Experts' concerns over ecosystem services and their sustainable
management
The role of tree plantations was seen by many experts in a positive
light, because of their potential power to sequester atmospheric
carbon, enhance water quality and reduce the risk of erosion. However,
the experts recognized that more research is needed, taking
into different ecological and geographical circumstances. Common
concerns as to negative impacts are listed in Table 3. A majority of
the experts considered that the regulation and control of plantations
is stricter than in most other sectors of agriculture. It was emphasized
that the revised Forest Law enables comprehensive regulation
of the environmental impacts of plantations; in contrast, for instance
soy and cereal farming and cattle husbandry are not considered in
any particular legislative act or directive, even though the former
contributes to the nutrient load due to its use of fertilizers, the latter
to erosion due to grazing herds, including native biotopes, at an
alarming level.
The sustainable management of ecosystem services is a relatively
new approach in Uruguayan environmental policy. The guidelines
for sustainable forest management, on the other hand, have been
adopted by the national authorities (MGAP, 2004). According to the
guidelines, ecological risks can be offset or reduced by means of
well-planned corridors of native vegetation cutting across planted
monocultures, by the right timing of harvesting and by extending
the rotation cycle of plantations (MGAP, 2004). One obviously unclear
question was whether the grazing of cattle herds should be allowed
on plantations. Answers were sharply divided: half of the respondents
estimated that the cumulative impact of combined grazing
and plantation forestry is harmful for vegetation, through increasing
erosion and nutrient loads in water bodies; the other half considered
that moderate grazing could increase biodiversity at forest borders, or
at least would have no significant negative impact. According to both
groups, however, while allowing cattle in plantations would make