Sensitization on Agroecology and Agrobiodiversity Integration in Higher Educa...ICCASA
Presented by Martin Oulu, Ph.D at the ISFAA SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON AGROECOLOGY AND AGROBIODIVERSITY INTEGRATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA.
This document summarizes a study exploring the interplay between forest conservation, food security, and commodity production in tropical forest landscapes. The study uses a nested, three-level design to examine three land use zones - forest, rubber agroforestry, and oil palm plantation - in Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia. Field methods include household surveys, biodiversity surveys, and assessments of ecosystem services, agriculture, livelihoods, and nutrition. The goal is to provide empirical evidence to inform debates around land sparing versus land sharing, and advance understanding of agricultural landscapes as socio-ecological systems. Preliminary results suggest that increasing agricultural production alone may not ensure food security or livelihoods.
Tennyson Magombo: Incidence of Indigenous and Innovative climate change adapt...AfricaAdapt
This study examined indigenous climate change adaptation practices of smallholder farmers in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi. The researchers identified several key indigenous adaptation strategies used by farmers, including crop diversification, eating a wild tuber plant called nyika, applying organic manure to fields, mixed crop-livestock farming, small-scale irrigation, and generating non-farm income. Factors like household size, income, access to markets and extension services affected the adoption of these strategies. The researchers concluded that promoting indigenous practices through improved extension, collective action, and domesticating nyika could help farmers better adapt to climate change.
One of the challenges of ecological intensification is to move agricultural research out of a focus on singular focal areas – e.g., improved seed, pest control, water management – to solutions that integrate all components of the farming system. As such, the canon of knowledge supporting ecological intensification is transdisciplinary, focusing on the biological components of farming systems and agroecological practices but extending as well to considerations of policy and farmer
and societal benefits. As the biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification, along with the negative externalities of conventional agriculture are an important motivation for ecological intensification, we have included literature on these topic, as well as references that relate climate change to ecosystem services in agriculture.
The annotated bibliography presented here is compiled on this basis, to identify the literature relevant to ecological intensification, with respect to the following categories:
1. Ecosystem services
2. Agroecology and agroecological practices
3. Farmer and societal benefits from enhancing ecosystem services
4. Biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification
5. Agriculture-induced impacts
6. Climate change
7. Policy
Within the category of ecosystem services, it has been noted in the keywords if the relevant study addresses one or several of the key ecosystem services underpinning ecological intensification in agriculture: pollination, pest regulation or soil nutrients/cycling. (Bommarco et al. 2013)
Agroecological Transformations: Background and RationaleICCASA
This document provides an overview of agroecology as it relates to sensitizing higher education institutions in Kenya. It defines agroecology in multiple ways and outlines its three dimensions. Agroecology is presented as an integrated science with principles that contribute to sustainable food and nutrition security. Achieving food and nutrition security is described as a "wicked problem" that requires a systems approach. The document discusses various perspectives on agriculture and the need for an interdisciplinary approach like agroecology. It also covers political agroecology and principles of agroecology in more depth.
Valuation of soil conservation practices in adwa woreda, ethiopia a conting...Alexander Decker
This document summarizes a study that uses contingent valuation methods to estimate the value that farmers place on soil conservation practices in Adwa Woreda, Ethiopia. 218 farmers were surveyed using a double bounded dichotomous choice format to elicit their willingness to pay for soil conservation. Regression analysis found that age, sex, education level, family size, perceptions, land tenure, livestock ownership, and initial bids were significant factors influencing willingness to pay. The average willingness to pay per household was estimated to be 56.65 person days per year. Aggregated across the study area, the total value of soil conservation was estimated to be 1,373,592 person days per year or approximately 16.5 million Ethiopian Birr. The
Smallholder Banana Farming Systems and Climate Variability: Understanding the...Dr. Joshua Zake
A presentation made during a Doctoral Thesis defense at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences on 23 April 2015 at 4 Pm in Seminar room 09 (SCHW-SR-09),
Schwakhöferhaus, EG, Peter Jordanstr. 82, 1190 Wien, Austria.
Sensitization on Agroecology and Agrobiodiversity Integration in Higher Educa...ICCASA
Presented by Martin Oulu, Ph.D at the ISFAA SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON AGROECOLOGY AND AGROBIODIVERSITY INTEGRATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA.
This document summarizes a study exploring the interplay between forest conservation, food security, and commodity production in tropical forest landscapes. The study uses a nested, three-level design to examine three land use zones - forest, rubber agroforestry, and oil palm plantation - in Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia. Field methods include household surveys, biodiversity surveys, and assessments of ecosystem services, agriculture, livelihoods, and nutrition. The goal is to provide empirical evidence to inform debates around land sparing versus land sharing, and advance understanding of agricultural landscapes as socio-ecological systems. Preliminary results suggest that increasing agricultural production alone may not ensure food security or livelihoods.
Tennyson Magombo: Incidence of Indigenous and Innovative climate change adapt...AfricaAdapt
This study examined indigenous climate change adaptation practices of smallholder farmers in Chikhwawa District, Southern Malawi. The researchers identified several key indigenous adaptation strategies used by farmers, including crop diversification, eating a wild tuber plant called nyika, applying organic manure to fields, mixed crop-livestock farming, small-scale irrigation, and generating non-farm income. Factors like household size, income, access to markets and extension services affected the adoption of these strategies. The researchers concluded that promoting indigenous practices through improved extension, collective action, and domesticating nyika could help farmers better adapt to climate change.
One of the challenges of ecological intensification is to move agricultural research out of a focus on singular focal areas – e.g., improved seed, pest control, water management – to solutions that integrate all components of the farming system. As such, the canon of knowledge supporting ecological intensification is transdisciplinary, focusing on the biological components of farming systems and agroecological practices but extending as well to considerations of policy and farmer
and societal benefits. As the biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification, along with the negative externalities of conventional agriculture are an important motivation for ecological intensification, we have included literature on these topic, as well as references that relate climate change to ecosystem services in agriculture.
The annotated bibliography presented here is compiled on this basis, to identify the literature relevant to ecological intensification, with respect to the following categories:
1. Ecosystem services
2. Agroecology and agroecological practices
3. Farmer and societal benefits from enhancing ecosystem services
4. Biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification
5. Agriculture-induced impacts
6. Climate change
7. Policy
Within the category of ecosystem services, it has been noted in the keywords if the relevant study addresses one or several of the key ecosystem services underpinning ecological intensification in agriculture: pollination, pest regulation or soil nutrients/cycling. (Bommarco et al. 2013)
Agroecological Transformations: Background and RationaleICCASA
This document provides an overview of agroecology as it relates to sensitizing higher education institutions in Kenya. It defines agroecology in multiple ways and outlines its three dimensions. Agroecology is presented as an integrated science with principles that contribute to sustainable food and nutrition security. Achieving food and nutrition security is described as a "wicked problem" that requires a systems approach. The document discusses various perspectives on agriculture and the need for an interdisciplinary approach like agroecology. It also covers political agroecology and principles of agroecology in more depth.
Valuation of soil conservation practices in adwa woreda, ethiopia a conting...Alexander Decker
This document summarizes a study that uses contingent valuation methods to estimate the value that farmers place on soil conservation practices in Adwa Woreda, Ethiopia. 218 farmers were surveyed using a double bounded dichotomous choice format to elicit their willingness to pay for soil conservation. Regression analysis found that age, sex, education level, family size, perceptions, land tenure, livestock ownership, and initial bids were significant factors influencing willingness to pay. The average willingness to pay per household was estimated to be 56.65 person days per year. Aggregated across the study area, the total value of soil conservation was estimated to be 1,373,592 person days per year or approximately 16.5 million Ethiopian Birr. The
Smallholder Banana Farming Systems and Climate Variability: Understanding the...Dr. Joshua Zake
A presentation made during a Doctoral Thesis defense at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences on 23 April 2015 at 4 Pm in Seminar room 09 (SCHW-SR-09),
Schwakhöferhaus, EG, Peter Jordanstr. 82, 1190 Wien, Austria.
One of the challenges of ecological intensification is to move agricultural research out of a focus on singular focal areas – e.g., improved seed, pest control, water management –
to solutions that integrate all components of the farming system. As such, the canon of knowledge supporting ecological intensification is transdisciplinary, focusing on the biological components of farming systems and agroecological practices but extending as well to considerations of policy and farmer and societal benefits. As the biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification, along with the negative externalities of conventional agriculture are an important motivation for ecological intensification, we have included literature on these topic, as well as references that relate climate change to ecosystem services in agriculture.
The glossary presented here is compiled on this basis, to provide definitions of key terms relevant to ecological intensification.
Food systems and natural resources-2016 Food Security and Climate change im...New Food Innovation Ltd
"We are what we eat, they say . Our Existence and, therefore, any of aspirations we might have as a society depend on the availability of , and access to, food. At the same time , our food depends on the state of natural resources .The Food we grow, harvest and trade , transport , store , sell and consumer is therefore one of the essential connecting threads between culture and wellbeing, their health and that of the planet
Climate change preparedness and adaptation: a case of smallholder farmers in ...Dr. Joshua Zake
A presentation made as a case study during the training course on Livelihoods systems dynamics in rural development course,´ at the Centre for Development Research, BOKU, Austria on 11 March 2015.
This document provides an overview of a project aiming to harmonize food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia. It discusses key concepts of biodiversity and food security, current trends negatively impacting both, and different approaches to addressing them. The project uses a social-ecological systems framework to study interactions between people and nature relating to livelihoods, governance challenges, and scenarios in southwestern Ethiopia agricultural landscapes and forests. The goal is to better understand win-win situations and provide insights for balancing food security and biodiversity protection.
Presentation of PRELIMINARY findings at the 2016 conference on development research at Stockholm University. Focus is on the household level livelihood strategies.
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion In AgroecologyICCASA
Presented by Dr. Mary Nyasimi at ISFAA SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON AGROECOLOGY AND AGROBIODIVERSITY INTEGRATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA.
This document summarizes an academic seminar on integrating food security and biodiversity conservation. It discusses limitations of existing frameworks like land sparing/sharing and sustainable intensification. A literature review identified clusters of approaches, with biophysical-technological clusters dominating. The talk advocates a more holistic, social-ecological approach. Current research is using questionnaires, systems mapping and a case study in Ethiopia to better understand relationships between social, economic and environmental factors influencing food security and biodiversity.
Towards synergies between food security and biodiversity conservation: an out...joernfischer
- production focus is too narrow
- need to look at other issues, e.g. female education
- even better, use a systems approach
- systems have leverage points (sensu Meadows 1999)
- the most influential points of intervening in systems are changing the system goals and questioning the paradigms underpinning the systems
- it follows that we ought to challenge the global systems for food security and biodiversity conservation -- they are based on paradigms that are not achieving either of these two goals very well
Presentation of PRELIMINARY findings at the 2016 conference on development research at Stockholm University. Focus is on the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation.
The Carbon Trust was commissioned by Public Health England ( PHE) to help them better understand environmental impacts of the new Eatwell Guide being founded and created .
They wished to obtain a wide ranging but well founded analysis covering complex sets of ingredients. It was considered useful to be able to review the results in light of the current typical UK diet
This document discusses the complex interactions between bioenergy and food security. It raises several key cross-cutting questions about this topic, including how the integration of biofuels could affect food security, what role productivity improvements play in synergies between food and bioenergy production, and if bioenergy can be deployed to enhance rather than degrade the resilience of the global food system. The document also discusses using different analytical tools at different scales to understand these issues and highlights complexity as both an obstacle and an opportunity in the bioenergy sector.
This document proposes the establishment of COST Action 866 to coordinate a multidisciplinary scientific network on Green Care in Agriculture across Europe. Green Care utilizes agricultural settings for human health promotion through activities like horticulture, animal contact, and landscape work. The network aims to strengthen research on effects of Green Care, economics, and policies to support its development. It will organize workshops, exchanges, and disseminate results to support Green Care as part of multifunctional agriculture that provides health services. The network addresses gaps in scientific evidence for Green Care while benefiting human health, rural development, and animal welfare.
Bridging the gap: sustainable forests, agriculture and food securityCIFOR-ICRAF
Terry Sunderland, Principal Scientist & Team Leader, Sustainable Landscapes and Food Systems
PEFC Conference: ”Sustainable Landscapes, Sustainable Livelihoods”
Bali, 17th November 2016
This document discusses governance challenges around achieving both food security and biodiversity conservation in southwestern Ethiopia. It identifies four discourses around food security: smallholder commercialization, agroecology and resilience, local economy and equity, and market liberalization. It also examines preferences for "land sharing" versus "land sparing" approaches to land use. There are gaps in horizontal coordination between different governance levels and a lack of integration between food security and biodiversity actors. The zone level plays an important role in brokering between higher-level policies and local implementation challenges.
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its App...Premier Publishers
For nearly a century research institutions and development organisations across the world have been engaged in the development, testing and publishing of improved cookstoves for cooking. Three institutional cookstoves developed by the Technology Consultancy Centre of the College of Engineering, at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and SNV Ghana, a Netherlands Development Organization, were constructed and studied to determine their power and efficiency using the water boiling test. The round bottom pot cookstove had the highest efficiency of 59.70% (tier 4) and a power of 8.8 kW, followed by the flat bottom pot cookstove with an efficiency of 47.40% (tier 4) and a power of 11.5 kW, and then the mobile cookstove that had an efficiency of 33.40% (tier 2.7) and a power of 11.3 kW. These institutional cookstoves which have been introduced into the agro and food processing industry in Ghana shows an improvement of about two to four times the efficiencies of the traditional ones generally used.
Southwestern Ethiopia has high levels of biodiversity associated with traditional land uses, but rapid changes are taking place. Two studies examined how woody plant diversity is affected by different factors in the region's agricultural-forest landscapes. The first study found evidence of an extinction debt of forest specialist species in recently converted farmland, along with an immigration credit of generalist and pioneer species in long-established farmland. The second study found that forest specialist species richness decreased with increasing coffee management intensity, proximity to forest edges, and in secondary versus primary forests. Broad conservation strategies are needed that consider the entire agricultural-forest mosaic.
Climate change and variability and extreme events adaptation: what are the ch...ILRI
A presentation prepared by John Ingram for the workshop on Dealing with Drivers of Rapid Change in Africa: Integration of Lessons from Long-term Research on INRM, ILRI, Nairobi, June 12-13, 2008.
Les Levidow: Divergent Pathways for Sustainable Agriculture: Contending accou...STEPS Centre
The document discusses contending pathways and accounts of sustainable agriculture in European research agendas. The dominant pathway frames sustainability as inefficiency to be addressed through efficient technological fixes, turning agriculture into a biomass factory. Alternative pathways promoted by groups like Technology Platform Organics and the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research focus on farmers' agroecological knowledge and short supply chains valorizing local resources and product identity. These divergent paradigms prioritize different types of knowledge, economic relations, and research.
One of the challenges of ecological intensification is to move agricultural research out of a focus on singular focal areas – e.g., improved seed, pest control, water management –
to solutions that integrate all components of the farming system. As such, the canon of knowledge supporting ecological intensification is transdisciplinary, focusing on the biological components of farming systems and agroecological practices but extending as well to considerations of policy and farmer and societal benefits. As the biodiversity benefits of ecological intensification, along with the negative externalities of conventional agriculture are an important motivation for ecological intensification, we have included literature on these topic, as well as references that relate climate change to ecosystem services in agriculture.
The glossary presented here is compiled on this basis, to provide definitions of key terms relevant to ecological intensification.
Food systems and natural resources-2016 Food Security and Climate change im...New Food Innovation Ltd
"We are what we eat, they say . Our Existence and, therefore, any of aspirations we might have as a society depend on the availability of , and access to, food. At the same time , our food depends on the state of natural resources .The Food we grow, harvest and trade , transport , store , sell and consumer is therefore one of the essential connecting threads between culture and wellbeing, their health and that of the planet
Climate change preparedness and adaptation: a case of smallholder farmers in ...Dr. Joshua Zake
A presentation made as a case study during the training course on Livelihoods systems dynamics in rural development course,´ at the Centre for Development Research, BOKU, Austria on 11 March 2015.
This document provides an overview of a project aiming to harmonize food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia. It discusses key concepts of biodiversity and food security, current trends negatively impacting both, and different approaches to addressing them. The project uses a social-ecological systems framework to study interactions between people and nature relating to livelihoods, governance challenges, and scenarios in southwestern Ethiopia agricultural landscapes and forests. The goal is to better understand win-win situations and provide insights for balancing food security and biodiversity protection.
Presentation of PRELIMINARY findings at the 2016 conference on development research at Stockholm University. Focus is on the household level livelihood strategies.
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion In AgroecologyICCASA
Presented by Dr. Mary Nyasimi at ISFAA SENSITIZATION WORKSHOP ON AGROECOLOGY AND AGROBIODIVERSITY INTEGRATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA.
This document summarizes an academic seminar on integrating food security and biodiversity conservation. It discusses limitations of existing frameworks like land sparing/sharing and sustainable intensification. A literature review identified clusters of approaches, with biophysical-technological clusters dominating. The talk advocates a more holistic, social-ecological approach. Current research is using questionnaires, systems mapping and a case study in Ethiopia to better understand relationships between social, economic and environmental factors influencing food security and biodiversity.
Towards synergies between food security and biodiversity conservation: an out...joernfischer
- production focus is too narrow
- need to look at other issues, e.g. female education
- even better, use a systems approach
- systems have leverage points (sensu Meadows 1999)
- the most influential points of intervening in systems are changing the system goals and questioning the paradigms underpinning the systems
- it follows that we ought to challenge the global systems for food security and biodiversity conservation -- they are based on paradigms that are not achieving either of these two goals very well
Presentation of PRELIMINARY findings at the 2016 conference on development research at Stockholm University. Focus is on the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation.
The Carbon Trust was commissioned by Public Health England ( PHE) to help them better understand environmental impacts of the new Eatwell Guide being founded and created .
They wished to obtain a wide ranging but well founded analysis covering complex sets of ingredients. It was considered useful to be able to review the results in light of the current typical UK diet
This document discusses the complex interactions between bioenergy and food security. It raises several key cross-cutting questions about this topic, including how the integration of biofuels could affect food security, what role productivity improvements play in synergies between food and bioenergy production, and if bioenergy can be deployed to enhance rather than degrade the resilience of the global food system. The document also discusses using different analytical tools at different scales to understand these issues and highlights complexity as both an obstacle and an opportunity in the bioenergy sector.
This document proposes the establishment of COST Action 866 to coordinate a multidisciplinary scientific network on Green Care in Agriculture across Europe. Green Care utilizes agricultural settings for human health promotion through activities like horticulture, animal contact, and landscape work. The network aims to strengthen research on effects of Green Care, economics, and policies to support its development. It will organize workshops, exchanges, and disseminate results to support Green Care as part of multifunctional agriculture that provides health services. The network addresses gaps in scientific evidence for Green Care while benefiting human health, rural development, and animal welfare.
Bridging the gap: sustainable forests, agriculture and food securityCIFOR-ICRAF
Terry Sunderland, Principal Scientist & Team Leader, Sustainable Landscapes and Food Systems
PEFC Conference: ”Sustainable Landscapes, Sustainable Livelihoods”
Bali, 17th November 2016
This document discusses governance challenges around achieving both food security and biodiversity conservation in southwestern Ethiopia. It identifies four discourses around food security: smallholder commercialization, agroecology and resilience, local economy and equity, and market liberalization. It also examines preferences for "land sharing" versus "land sparing" approaches to land use. There are gaps in horizontal coordination between different governance levels and a lack of integration between food security and biodiversity actors. The zone level plays an important role in brokering between higher-level policies and local implementation challenges.
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its App...Premier Publishers
For nearly a century research institutions and development organisations across the world have been engaged in the development, testing and publishing of improved cookstoves for cooking. Three institutional cookstoves developed by the Technology Consultancy Centre of the College of Engineering, at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and SNV Ghana, a Netherlands Development Organization, were constructed and studied to determine their power and efficiency using the water boiling test. The round bottom pot cookstove had the highest efficiency of 59.70% (tier 4) and a power of 8.8 kW, followed by the flat bottom pot cookstove with an efficiency of 47.40% (tier 4) and a power of 11.5 kW, and then the mobile cookstove that had an efficiency of 33.40% (tier 2.7) and a power of 11.3 kW. These institutional cookstoves which have been introduced into the agro and food processing industry in Ghana shows an improvement of about two to four times the efficiencies of the traditional ones generally used.
Southwestern Ethiopia has high levels of biodiversity associated with traditional land uses, but rapid changes are taking place. Two studies examined how woody plant diversity is affected by different factors in the region's agricultural-forest landscapes. The first study found evidence of an extinction debt of forest specialist species in recently converted farmland, along with an immigration credit of generalist and pioneer species in long-established farmland. The second study found that forest specialist species richness decreased with increasing coffee management intensity, proximity to forest edges, and in secondary versus primary forests. Broad conservation strategies are needed that consider the entire agricultural-forest mosaic.
Climate change and variability and extreme events adaptation: what are the ch...ILRI
A presentation prepared by John Ingram for the workshop on Dealing with Drivers of Rapid Change in Africa: Integration of Lessons from Long-term Research on INRM, ILRI, Nairobi, June 12-13, 2008.
Les Levidow: Divergent Pathways for Sustainable Agriculture: Contending accou...STEPS Centre
The document discusses contending pathways and accounts of sustainable agriculture in European research agendas. The dominant pathway frames sustainability as inefficiency to be addressed through efficient technological fixes, turning agriculture into a biomass factory. Alternative pathways promoted by groups like Technology Platform Organics and the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research focus on farmers' agroecological knowledge and short supply chains valorizing local resources and product identity. These divergent paradigms prioritize different types of knowledge, economic relations, and research.
EcoHealth Resource Centre (EHRC) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogyakarta, I...ILRI
Presentation by the Universitas Gadjah Mada to the Progress meeting on Ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in the South East Asian Region, Bangkok, 10-13 December 2011.
Martindale W (2016) The potential of food preservation to reduce food wasteMPC Research
While we state it seems unthinkable to throw away nearly a third of the food we produce, we still continue to overlook that we are all very much part of this problem because we all consume meals. The amount of food wasted clearly has an impact on our view of what we think a sustainable meal is and our research suggests food waste is a universal function that can help us determine the sustainability of diets. Achieving sustainability in food systems
depends on the utilisation of both culinary skills and knowledge of how foods make meals. These are overlooked by the current food waste debate that is concerned with communicating the problem with food waste rather than solutions to it. We aim to change this oversight with the research presented here that demonstrates the need to consider the role of food preservation to reduce food waste and the requirement for new marketing terms associated with sustainability actions that can be used to stimulate changes in consumption behaviours.
We have chosen frozen food to demonstrate this because our research has shown that the use of frozen foods results in 47 % less household food waste than fresh food categories. This has created a step-change in how we view food consumption and has stimulated consumer movements that act across different products and supply chains to enable the consumption
of the sustainable meal.
Sustainability: Food-waste: Consumers: Nutrition
Sibonginkosi Khumalo: The use of agrobiodiversity by indigenous and tradition...AfricaAdapt
1. Indigenous peoples and traditional farming communities are using agrobiodiversity to adapt to climate change by protecting species, ecosystem, and agricultural system diversity.
2. Adaptation involves maintaining intra- and inter-species diversity through protecting, using, and redistributing species, as well as ecosystem protection and landscape management to buffer climate impacts.
3. Successful adaptation combines traditional knowledge with new information through diversification, sustainable management of water and soil, and use of traditional and new crop varieties and livestock breeds.
This document provides a literature review of agricultural pollution policies and instruments. It begins by discussing different types of environmental policy instruments, including regulations, voluntary schemes, market-based instruments, and the role of education and technology. It then reviews how these instruments are used in the agricultural sector to mitigate pollution. Key knowledge gaps identified include a lack of understanding around time lags in implementing measures, farmer compliance standards, and nutrient budget management systems. The document argues that policy instruments need to balance environmental objectives with farm economic efficiency. Effective policy should be cost-effective, equitable, viable, practical, and operational for farmers without causing income losses.
Reflection on Key Points from Inception WorkshopSri Lmb
The document summarizes presentations from a workshop on sustainable agriculture intensification, highlighting areas like improving rice production through conservation agriculture and sustainable rice intensification, promoting education for smallholder farmers, and developing monitoring and evaluation systems to understand impact on farmers. Key points included the need to work with natural systems to increase productivity with fewer inputs, empower farmers through participatory research and field schools, and influence policies to support sustainable intensification practices.
A Fresh Start For Organic Farming ResearchTony Lisko
This editorial introduces a new open-access peer-reviewed journal called Organic Farming. The journal aims to strengthen and expand the forum for research on organic farming. It will complement existing academic publishing by facilitating impactful innovations and insights from organic farming research. The journal commits to promoting the practical impact of organic research and ensuring high quality standards through rigorous peer review. It invites submissions to contribute to shaping the journal and advancing organic agriculture.
Green Care in Agriculture ~ Norwegian University
`
For more information, Please see websites below:
`
Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851214 ~
`
Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851079 ~
`
Free School Gardening Art Posters =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159 ~
`
Increase Food Production with Companion Planting in your School Garden =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159 ~
`
Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851348 ~
`
City Chickens for your Organic School Garden =
http://scribd.com/doc/239850440 ~
`
Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide =
http://scribd.com/doc/239851110 ~
This programme aims to equip graduates with the skills to contribute to global food security efforts in the 21st century. The MSc consists of six taught courses over two semesters covering frameworks for food security assessment, sustainable food production, and food systems interrelationships, plus a dissertation. Course options address topics like ecosystem services, environmental change, economics, and resource management. The programme includes a field trip applying principles to real-world scenarios.
The document summarizes the key discussions and outcomes from the 3rd Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture held in Montpellier, France from March 16-18, 2015. Over 600 researchers and 150 stakeholders from 75 countries discussed how agriculture can address food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation. The conference concluded that Climate-Smart Agriculture provides an important framework to develop solutions that balance these three pillars at local, regional and global levels. Participants called on policymakers to support Climate-Smart Agriculture through increased research funding, policies that integrate food security and climate goals, and ensuring agriculture has a prominent role in climate change negotiations.
This document discusses business ecosystems and how they relate to sustainability. It defines a business ecosystem as the network of organizations involved in delivering a product or service, including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, and government agencies. It notes that in an ecosystem, these organizations both compete and cooperate, and each entity affects and is affected by the others. This creates constantly evolving relationships where organizations must adapt to survive, similar to biological ecosystems. The document also discusses how ecosystems create barriers to entry and how their goals include driving innovation, sharing knowledge, and addressing social/environmental challenges.
This document discusses green food, which refers to food that is produced sustainably and is high-quality, safe, healthy and environmentally friendly. It provides an introduction to green food, explaining that there are normal, green and organic types of food in terms of environmental friendliness. Green food aims to be environmentally sustainable and uses fewer chemicals than normal food production but is not fully organic. The document outlines some of the benefits of green food, such as improved health and quality of life, but also notes challenges like the carbon footprint of different food items and cultural acceptance of changes in food production. It concludes that green food consumption is increasing globally but presents difficulties to overcome.
The document introduces the GreenCook project, which aims to reduce food waste in Northwestern Europe through transnational cooperation. The project will bring together various partners from different sectors to test innovative approaches to influencing consumer behavior and sustainable food management. It will develop tools and strategies to engage key audiences like households, restaurants, schools and supermarkets. The transnational nature of the partnership will allow them to accelerate progress towards common standards and strategies for addressing food waste issues.
Green agricultural policies_2087_GRI_LSE-Agriculture-GGGI-policy_lores_51Andrew Bam
This document analyzes how green agricultural policies can be designed and implemented to reduce poverty in developing countries. It examines over 20 projects in 17 countries that tested policies like payments for environmental services, subsidies, community-based natural resource management, and training programs. The key findings are that policies should target the poorest, make participation easy, and consider local economic, social and cultural factors like credit access, property rights, labor markets, and institutions. Policies also need complementary initiatives to address market issues and should allow flexibility in options to match individual circumstances. With smart, informed design that addresses these issues, green agricultural policies can help alleviate poverty while also achieving environmental goals.
This document provides an overview of how the food service sector impacts climate change and can work to reduce its effects. It discusses how food production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste contribute to greenhouse gas emissions across the entire food chain. Specific topics covered include the carbon footprint of different ingredients in a cheeseburger, mobile apps that can track the carbon footprint of grocery purchases, and strategies food service providers can implement like shifting to more plant-based and climate-friendly menu options.
1. The document discusses the multidisciplinary nature of environmental studies, including its scope and importance.
2. It covers the key components of the environment, as well as the various disciplines that contribute to environmental science like biology, physics, social sciences, and more.
3. Sustainable development is introduced as development that meets current needs without compromising future generations, balancing economic, environmental and social factors.
1. 1
ARENBERG DOCTORAL SCHOOL
FACULTY OF BIOSCIENCE ENGINEERING
Pieter Vlaeminck
Dissertation presented in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of PhD in Bioscience Engineering
January 2016
Supervisor:
Prof. dr. ir. Liesbet Vranken
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FOOD
AND AGRICULTURE:
AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER AND
SMALLHOLDER CHOICE BEHAVIOR
2. 2
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND
AGRICULTURE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF
CONSUMER AND SMALLHOLDER CHOICE
BEHAVIOR
Pieter VLAEMINCK
For a complete digital copy of the PhD:
vlaeminck.pieter@gmail.com
Supervisor:
Prof. Liesbet Vranken (KU Leuven)
Members of the Examination Committee:
Prof. Martin Hermy (Chairman – KU Leuven)
Prof. Erik Mathijs (KU Leuven)
Prof. Miet Maertens (KU Leuven)
Prof. Sandra Rousseau (KU Leuven)
Prof. Guido Pepermans (KU Leuven)
Prof. Wim Verbeke (UGent)
Januari 2016
Dissertation presented in
partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
PhD in Bioscience Engineering
4. 4
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored”
– Aldous Huxley
5. 5
SUMMARY
Food connects us all. Both through the production and consumption of food we interact as
society with our environment. Food production and consumption shape our livelihood
strategies, the natural landscape and ecological and human health. Unfortunately, many
environmental and social sustainability challenges remain to be addressed to arrive at
more sustainable food and agricultural systems. This thesis takes a micro-economic
approach in analyzing individual economic decision making of both consumers in the
Global North and smallholders in the Global South in order to support policy
development towards a more sustainable food and agricultural system. It adopts an
explicitly dual perspective of both consumers and producers, and Global North and
Global South relationships since environmental and social challenges vary according to
their spatial context, from geographically different, evolving food demands to the
environmental impacts of intensive agriculture and challenges of deforestation and land
degradation in many poor and highly populated areas.
The first part of this thesis investigates the future role of food sustainability labels in
order to induce the much needed switch to sustainable food consumption patterns and
expand the green/social product market at the expense of the conventional market.
Chapter 2 tests how the current effectiveness and use of eco-labels can be stimulated
through the provision of more complete environmental information communicated via a
more intuitive eco-label design, a graded eco-label. We find that introducing the
possibility to compare the environmental performance of food products in a cognitively
easy way increases the eco-friendliness of consumers’ food baskets. Chapter 3 studies
whether ethical labels trigger the same value as the value consumers put on the
underlying ethical label characteristics and tries to understand which ethical attributes
have a higher possibility to influence consumer behavior. We observe that the current
label does not entirely capture the preferences that respondents have for the underlying
label characteristics and that consumers’ willingness-to-pay is highest for attributes where
the socially responsible element benefits humans.
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The second purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how the inclusion of smallholder
preferences can support the development of more community-supported and inclusive
policies for livelihood improvements, ecosystem protection, and contract/certification
design. Of particular interest is the relative importance smallholder farmers attach to
different attributes of sustainable certification programs such as Fair Trade since the
current ambiguous impact of certification schemes may partly be attributed to the
difference between Northern-driven standards and the preferences of smallholder farmers
in the South. We find that smallholder rice farmers in Benin prefer contracts with fewer
requirements (domestic contract) but contract benefits can outweigh the costs related to
these requirements in the case of Fair Trade contracts. This does not hold for Fair Trade
contracts with organic standards. In Chapter 5, we investigate whether preventive
resettlement can be a community-supported strategy to protect the livelihoods of
agricultural households and the local ecosystem services in Eastern Uganda from severe
environmental degradation. Given that many of the former resettlement policy attempts
originate from a top-down decision process ignoring the diversity and complexity of local
agricultural, social and cultural conditions and ecosystems, we find that taking
smallholders’ preferences into account can significantly increase future support. Besides,
we identify which program and policy design attributes are essential for a successful
preventive resettlement.
Our work highlights that food sustainability labels need to become more performant if
they want to induce a significant shift in consumer behavior towards more sustainable and
less resource-intensive choices. Besides, taking smallholders’ preferences into account
has the potential for policies to become more supported by local communities and
programs to be better tailored to smallholders’ needs while diminishing the current view
that many of these actions stem from Northern dominated discourses instead of
originating from a mutual interest. We hope that this thesis can motivate NGOs,
companies and policy makers to match their current policies and programs against our
results in order to strengthen their sustainable food, agricultural and land use strategies in
the Global North and in the Global South.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
Pieter Vlaeminck
Artsen Zonder Grenzenstraat 14, bus 102
2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
22/02/1987
(willing to relocate)
+32 495/48.88.07
vlaeminck.pieter@gmail.com
PROFILE
I am a highly project-oriented people-person who is seeking a challenging position as a young
professional in a dynamic environment. My personal driver is to promote sustainability thinking into
current modes of business. Supported by a distinct academic and practical background in financial
and agricultural economics, my aim is to be an added value as an innovation-driven and
experienced economist.
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
OCTOBER 2011 – PRESENT
PhD researcher at the Division of Bio-economics, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven
Phd public defense (13/01/2016)
“Towards sustainable food and agriculture: an empirical analysis of consumer and smallholder choice
behavior.”
PUBLICATIONS, PROJECTS and CONSULTANCY
Vlaeminck, P., Jiang, T. and L. Vranken. (2014) Food labeling and eco-friendly
consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket. Ecological Economics,
108, 180–190. (Q1, 5yIF: 4.002)
Vlaeminck, Vandoren and Vranken. (2015). Consumers’ willingness to pay for Fair Trade
chocolate In Squicciarini, Mara P. and Johan Swinnen, The Economics of Chocolate, Oxford
University Press.
Vlaeminck, P., Maertens, M., Isabirye, M., Vanderhoydonks, F., Poesen, J., Deckers, S., and
Vranken, L. (2016). Coping with landslide risk through preventive resettlement. Designing
optimal strategies through choice experiments for the Mount Elgon region, Uganda. Land
Use Policy, 51, 301-311. (Q1, 5yIF: 3.095)
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De Valck J., J., Vlaeminck, P., Broekx, S., Liekens, I., Aertsens, J., Chen, W., Vranken, L.
(2014). Benefits of clearing existing forests to restore nature? Evidence from a discrete
choice experiment in Flanders, Belgium. Landscape and Urban Planning,125,65-75. (Q1,
5yIF: 3.659)
Vlaeminck, P., Jiang, T., Vranken, L. (2014). Labelling and sustainable food consumption:
experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket. World Congress of Environmental and
Resource Economists. Istanbul, 28 June- 2 July 2014.
Vlaeminck, P., Maertens, M. Vanderhoydonks, F., Isabirye, M., Vranken, L. (2015). Optimal
resettlement strategies to cope with landslides on Mount Elgon, East Uganda. CSAE
Conference 2015: Economic Development in Africa. Oxford, 22nd - 24th March 2015.
Vlaeminck, P.,Jiang, T.,Vranken, L.(2014).Labelling and consumer behavior: experimental
evidence from a Belgian supermarket. Proceedings of the 2014 EAAE International
Congress. Ljubljana, Slovenia,August 26-29, 2014(art.nr.182742)(pp.1-13).
VITO, KUL and Idea Consult. (2014). Investigation of the feasibility and mapping of a
possible approach towards a carbon, water and waste neutral Flemish food industry by
2030. Study commissioned by the Environment, Nature and Energy department of the
Flemish government.
LANGUAGES
Dutch: Native Spanish: Good
English: Advanced German: Basic
French: Advanced
SKILLS and EXPERIENCE
Management and development skills: Experience in project management, developing
partnerships, managing multidisciplinary teams and managing remote teams
(directed research teams and projects in Cuba and Uganda), scouts leader (6y),
fraternity presidium
Communication and discussion skills: frequent conference speaker, advisor and
former member of the Model United Nations Society Belgium
Analytical skills: Research, analysis and synthesis on several financial and
sustainability topics
Self-reliance skills: Sailing (crossing the Atlantic), travelling, climbing and
backcountry skiing
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EDUCATION
KU LEUVEN:
2009-2010: Master after Master in Financial Economics (LSBE)
Master thesis: “Crossing networks: Impact on the dealer’s quotes.” - Great distinction (79,7%)
2005-2009: Business Economics (KUL) – Orientation: Finance.
Master thesis: “Are there factors recognizing and predicting financial bubbles?” - Master: 76.4%
UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA:
2007-2008: Erasmus Exchange Program: Granada (Spain, 8 months)
INTERNSHIPS
Deloitte : enterprise risk services (1 month) – August 2009 (valuing complex
financial products)
ING bank: market room Brussels (1 month) – August 2008 (fixed income desk)
PROFESSIONAL INTRESTS
Food economics, sustainability and agricultural systems
Behavioral Finance, Nudging and Economics
Development Economics, Microfinance and Basic Income
Food entrepreneurship and innovation