ABSTRACT
In Latin America, pastures are the chief agricultural land use, comprising 30 per cent of the total land area (FAO, 2006). A significant portion of these pastures are mismanaged through reliance on monocultures of pasture species and through overgrazing. As a result of the combination of these factors, more that 50 per cent of the pastures in Central America are degraded (Szott et al, 2000), having lost both their productive capacity as well as their capacity to provide key ecosystem services. This situation leads to livestock systems based on pastures with low productivity and profitability, and negative externalities for the environment, such as soil erosion, contamination of water sources, biodiversity loss and high greenhouse gas emissions.
