TY - JOUR

T1 - System Properties Determine Food Security and Biodiversity Outcomes at Landscape Scale

T2 - A Case Study from West Flores, Indonesia

AU - Collier, Neil French

AU - Sayer, Jeffrey

AU - Boedhihartono, Agni Klintuni

AU - Hanspach, Jan

AU - Abson, David

AU - Fischer, Joern

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the workshop participants, especially the staff of Burung Indonesia, Terry Sunderland, The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), James Langston and Rebecca Riggs. This project was made possible through a European Research Council Consolidator Grant awarded to Joern Fischer. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2018/3/20

Y1 - 2018/3/20

N2 - The food-biodiversity nexus is a concept that defines and characterizes the complex interactions between agricultural systems and biodiversity conservation. Here we use a social-ecological systems approach that combines fuzzy cognitive mapping and graph theoretic analyses to uncover system properties that determine food security and biodiversity outcomes at a landscape scale. We studied a rice-based agricultural landscape system situated in Mbeliling district of West Flores, Indonesia. A graphical representation of the Mbeliling district food-biodiversity nexus was created by local experts. The representation revealed system properties that help reconcile the trade-offs between food security and biodiversity conservation. The graph represented a diverse set of food security and biodiversity nodes, and showed that there is not a simple dichotomy between 'production and protection'. The analysis captured greater complexity than popular academic concepts such as land sparing-land sharing or sustainable intensification. Three major themes emerged from the graph. We found distinct clusters of factors influencing biodiversity and food security. We named these sources of influence (1) Modernisation and sustainable farming; (2) Knowledge and management; and (3) Governance and processes. Component 2 was the most representative of emergent system properties that contribute positively to managing a sustainable food-biodiversity nexus in the Mbeliling landscape. The key determinants of outcomes were: improving agronomic practices, diversifying production, maintaining forest cover and connectivity, and using knowledge and natural resource management processes to mitigate the main drivers of change. Our approach highlights the complexities in the food-biodiversity nexus, and could have wide application in other locations.

AB - The food-biodiversity nexus is a concept that defines and characterizes the complex interactions between agricultural systems and biodiversity conservation. Here we use a social-ecological systems approach that combines fuzzy cognitive mapping and graph theoretic analyses to uncover system properties that determine food security and biodiversity outcomes at a landscape scale. We studied a rice-based agricultural landscape system situated in Mbeliling district of West Flores, Indonesia. A graphical representation of the Mbeliling district food-biodiversity nexus was created by local experts. The representation revealed system properties that help reconcile the trade-offs between food security and biodiversity conservation. The graph represented a diverse set of food security and biodiversity nodes, and showed that there is not a simple dichotomy between 'production and protection'. The analysis captured greater complexity than popular academic concepts such as land sparing-land sharing or sustainable intensification. Three major themes emerged from the graph. We found distinct clusters of factors influencing biodiversity and food security. We named these sources of influence (1) Modernisation and sustainable farming; (2) Knowledge and management; and (3) Governance and processes. Component 2 was the most representative of emergent system properties that contribute positively to managing a sustainable food-biodiversity nexus in the Mbeliling landscape. The key determinants of outcomes were: improving agronomic practices, diversifying production, maintaining forest cover and connectivity, and using knowledge and natural resource management processes to mitigate the main drivers of change. Our approach highlights the complexities in the food-biodiversity nexus, and could have wide application in other locations.

KW - capital assets

KW - endemic birds

KW - food-biodiversity nexus

KW - food system

KW - fuzzy cognitive mapping

KW - livelihoods

KW - multi-functional landscape

KW - social-ecological system

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107509780&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/land7010039

DO - 10.3390/land7010039

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 7

JO - Land

JF - Land

SN - 2073-445X

IS - 1

M1 - 39

ER -