Co-benefits and trade-offs between biodiversity, carbon storage and water flow regulation

The trade-offs between biodiversity, carbon storage and water flow regulation were analysed in a biosphere reserve area. With the aim of proposing criteria for conservation plans that would include ecosystem services and biodiversity, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach was designed to estimate and map the value of the biodiversity and ecosystem services. The actual protected areas, namely, coastal ecosystems and Cantabrian evergreen-oak forests, were found to be important for the overall biodiversity and included some important portions of the other services. The non-protected natural forests, such as the mixed-oak, beech and riparian forests, are biodiversity hotspots, and they contribute to the carbon storage and water flow regulation services. Thus, even though these areas are small, their inclusion in conservation proposals should be considered. The pine and eucalyptus plantations contribute to ecosystem services but have negative effects on biodiversity and cause environmental problems. In contrast to the plantations of fast-growing species, the increase in broadleaf plantations will exhibit a positive trend due to the benefits they provide. Our study highlights that the inclusion of ecosystem services in conservation planning has a great potential to provide opportunities for biodiversity protection; however, strategies of conservation based only on specific ecosystem services may be detrimental to the biodiversity and may cause other environmental problems.

► The paper contributes to the debate about the role of ecosystem services in conservation.
► We analyse the trade-offs between biodiversity, carbon storage and water flow regulation.
► Including ecosystem services in conservation planning, can facilitate biodiversity protection.
► Conservation based only on ecosystem services might be detrimental to biodiversity.
► Using accurate data scales at the local level are necessary to detect the importance of ecosystems.