Indicators associated to pastures sustainability: a review

Indicators associated to pastures sustainability: a review

Pablo Andrés Motta-Delgado, Hernán Eduardo Ocaña Martínez, Erika Paola Rojas-Vargas

astures are anthropogenic ecosystems that offer low-cost food resources mainly for feeding ruminants, being the base for production and livelihoods in many rural areas worldwide. Pasturebased production is important for the social, environmental and economic implications where sustainability plays a prominent role because it meets both the needs of present and future generations. The aims of this review article were the following : to show the progress and application of the sustainability concept focused on pastures, and to relate indicators for the measu-rement of pasture sustainability in the tropics. This article describes the sustainability, the indicators for sustainability, the pastures in the humid tropics of the Amazon region, the sustainability applied to pastures, and finally, provides indicators and metrics to evaluate sustaina-bility in pastures. In conclusion, a sustainable pasture must provide benefits to the soil, the plants, and the animals, as well as provide livelihoods to the family that manages the system through appropriate management practices that allow the resilience of the pasture system and the conservation or improvement of natural resources for present and future generations.

2019

Agroforestry, Productivity, livelihoods, livestock production, silvopastoral systems, sustainability

10.21930/rcta.vol20_num2_art:1464

Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria

Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (Corpoica)

Agriculture (General), Agriculture, Animal culture