Biogas originated from residual biomass in ecosystem services

Abstract

Human demand for the provisioning services of the ecosystem has been rising and shows the existence of trade-offs in their generation. Brazil is a great producer of agricultural commodities and animal protein, which generates a large amount of residual biomass throughout the production process, especially animal highly polluting waste concentrated in small areas. Ecosystems provide a wide range of services that are of fundamental importance to the well-being, health, subsistence and survival of human beings. The impacts of the waste generated by confined animals can degrade the ecosystem and reduce the services it can supply. Using waste to generate biogas does not require direct resources from the ecosystems to generate energy. In this context, it is an energy product classified as a provisioning service and, at the same time, an ecosystem regulating service, as it mitigates undesirable effects in the environment. The main goal of the classification of biogas as an ecosystem service is to explore its contributions to the ecosystem and to human well-being.