Water, Land and Ecosystems - 3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Gender and RRR for energy

Amanda — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 11:01:05 +0000

This project will produce the following outputs:

1. Working paper on Gender and RRR for energy based on case studies written by people involved in some current RRR work using materials from different waste streams (agro-waste, wood waste, municipal waste, fecal waste, …) to give better understanding on what is going on and areas for further work.

Project leader will develop guidelines for writing of the case studies, review the case studies and write and co-author some of the case studies.

2. Proposal on RRR for energy aimed at scaling up work by community groups which draws on experiences in Ghana.

3. CapVal work.

Contact Person

Mary Njenga (ICRAF)

Lead Center

World Agroforestry (ICRAF)

Completed

Start/End dateJuly 10, 2017 — July 31, 2018

Research ThemeRural-Urban Linkages

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Western Africa

Countries

Ghana

Sustainable development options and land-use based alternatives to: Enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation capacities in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon, while enhancing ecosystem services and local livelihoods

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

Peru and Colombia, which are jointly home to 23% of the Amazon forest, both have initiatives oriented toward implementing the REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal, as well as designing NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) plans and NAPA (National Adaptation Programmes of Action) plans. Furthermore, Peru is host to one of the eight pilots of the World Bank´s ‚Forest Investment Program‘. Despite the existence of these initiatives, there remains an urgent need in both countries for proven viable land-use based options for enhancing carbon sinks, protecting endangered Amazon forests and enhancing the adaptation capacity of local communities to climate change. Moreover, the respective costs and the identification of pathways for achieving a sustainable and low-carbon development in the Amazon have not yet been analyzed in depth.Although there are on-going initiatives to reduce the deforestation and enhance carbon sinks, deforested Amazonia (which now represents 30% of the total area) is highly degraded and new models for rehabilitation of these areas are critically needed. This project seeks to assist national environmental authorities and local farmers in Colombia and Peru in managing sustainably their deforested areas by: i ) providing national authorities with validated land-use options, designed in cooperation with rural communities, that contribute to the design of low-carbon development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies ii) enhancing country capacity to assess cost-efficiency of the adoption of these options in terms of improving adaptive capacity while providing other co-benefits (i.e. carbon sinks enhancement, protection of natural forests and water ecosystem services of importance for local livelihoods); iii) improving the capacity to monitor land cover changes in order to assist the monitoring of the effectiveness of land-use based mitigation and national adaptation plans in Peru; and iv) identifying the likely pathways the countries may take towards sustainability in terms of ambitious climate protection and around which the mitigation-adaptation land-use options might be framed. Peru and Colombia, which are jointly home to 23% of the Amazon forest, both have initiatives oriented toward implementing the REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal, as well as designing NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) plans and NAPA (National Adaptation Programmes of Action) plans. Furthermore, Peru is host to one of the eight pilots of the World Bank´s ‚Forest Investment Program‘. Despite the existence of these initiatives, there remains an urgent need in both countries for proven viable land-use based options for enhancing carbon sinks, protecting endangered Amazon forests and enhancing the adaptation capacity of local communities to climate change. Moreover, the respective costs and the identification of pathways for achieving a sustainable and low-carbon development in the Amazon have not yet been analyzed in depth.Although there are on-going initiatives to reduce the deforestation and enhance carbon sinks, deforested Amazonia (which now represents 30% of the total area) is highly degraded and new models for rehabilitation of these areas are critically needed. This project seeks to assist national environmental authorities and local farmers in Colombia and Peru in managing sustainably their deforested areas by: i ) providing national authorities with validated land-use options, designed in cooperation with rural communities, that contribute to the design of low-carbon development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies ii) enhancing country capacity to assess cost-efficiency of the adoption of these options in terms of improving adaptive capacity while providing other co-benefits (i.e. carbon sinks enhancement, protection of natural forests and water ecosystem services of importance for local livelihoods); iii) improving the capacity to monitor land cover changes in order to assist the monitoring of the effectiveness of land-use based mitigation and national adaptation plans in Peru; and iv) identifying the likely pathways the countries may take towards sustainability in terms of ambitious climate protection and around which the mitigation-adaptation land-use options might be framed. Due the diverse dimensions covered by this project this is contributing to WLE, CCAFS and FTA.The reason for aligning with WLE is that although this project response to national priorities for forest conservation, the largest effort of the project is to design and evaluate on farms, sustainable land uses that can restore deforested areas in the Amazon. This under the assumption that restoring these lands will reduce pressure on remaining native forests. Also, one of the outputs of the project is to produce indicators to evaluate the effect of sustainable land uses on ES beyond carbon sequestration (e.g. on water-related ES, biodiversity maintenance). The project also will analyze the effects of farm-based interventions on the different landscapes previously identified for the study sites.

Contact Person

Marcela Quintero (m.quintero@CGIAR.ORG)

Lead Center

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Partners

5. Mr Paiva Munguambe, Director, National Institute for Irrigation, Mozambique (pmunguambe@inir.gov.mz)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — June 01, 2018

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Latin America

Countries

Peru

Reinvesting in soil quality: the basis for long-term gains in productivity and ecosystem services in East, West and Southern Africa

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

The livelihoods and agro-ecosystems on which farmers, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists in East, West and Southern Africa depend are under considerable pressure from poverty, inadequate access to income-earning opportunities, inequity, environmental degradation and increased competition over resources as well as lack of access to information, inputs, technologies and services. This research contributes directly to WLE’s flagship on Regenerating Degraded Agricultural Ecosystems (RDE) by focusing on developing a proof of concept for ecosystem based solutions at landscape scales while exploring associated trade-offs. The overall goal of this research is to identify opportunities that improve soil quality and ecosystem services provision, and therefore livelihoods, in rainfed landscapes. The results of this work will be used to inform development decisions and investments to achieve improved productivity and resources management within landscapes in selected regions of East, West and Southern Africa. We aim to inform development decisions and investments to achieve improved productivity and resources management by working with partners who are directly involved in this rather than setting up these processes within the project. In Ghana we are working with the WLE-funded Regional Focal project “Improving livelihoods in landscapes in the Volta Basin through strengthening farmer-led approaches to ecosystem-based management” which will incorporate our results into stakeholder platforms which will examine how investments and incentives into SLM can be designed. In the Upper Tana, results will be given to the Nairobi Water Fund monitoring team, Steering committee and NGOs implementing Water Fund activities so that Water Fund investment strategies can be adapted if necessary. In Malawi, strategies for investment opportunities in soil will be discussed with decision makers through ongoing participatory processes and also to implementing partner NGOs for uptake where relevant. This research will strengthen gender related activities through W1&2 funds that will be used for participatory processes in all regions. CIAT is working with partners (both private sector and public entities) to provide scientific input on the expected benefits and beneficiaries of feasible sustainable land management solutions, while ensuring that feasible solutions are equitable. Notably, these activities will also complement the recently approved Innovation Fund in the Tana Basin on "Finding Common Ground in land and water resources management" in these agro-ecosystems. This Innovation Fund project is expected to focus on modelling rather than on the ground monitoring and so the two projects will complement each other. Specific activities across these three geographies will include: i) Continuing investigating the impact of field-based interventions on soils and water productivity (2014-2015). For each country, this will include a meta-analysis of existing literature on the impact of interventions on ES. In the Upper Tana, erosion monitoring plots will be installed. In the Upper Tana, the water quality and quantity in least six microwatersheds is currently being monitored in a Before–After Control–Impact (BACI) designed experiment to deliver proof of concept of Water Fund activities. In 2016, interventions (grass strips, ‘funya juu’ terraces, bench terraces and riparian restoration - expected to be implemented in 2016) will be put in place within the microwatersheds in an effort to assess the effectiveness of interventions at reducing sedimentation (changes which are unlikely to be detected at the subwatershed scale). Participatory mapping, focus group discussions and household surveys are all being used to identify costs and benefits of different field-based interventions in Malawi and Ghana. ii) Household surveys and participatory landscape mapping to generate an understanding of differentiated local perceptions on the contribution of ecosystem services to broader (on/off-farm) production, impacts of environmental change and constraints to adoption of SLM practices (2015); iii) Modeling the impact of farming practices on ecosystem services, including water quality and sedimentation (farm to landscape scales). This will be used to identify land management options which are most likely to enhance ecosystem services (Upper Tana – 2015; Malawi and Ghana 2016); iv) Scenario development and analysis to assess trade-offs involved in investing in sustainable land management (action) versus continuing degraded practices (inaction) (2016).

Contact Person

Justine Cordingley (J.Cordingley@cgiar.org), Fred Kizito (f.kizito@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Partners

The Nature Conservancy, Univeristy of Development Studies, Total Land Care

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa

Countries

Ghana, Kenya, Malawi

Understanding the provision and multidimensional benefit of ecosystem services and implications for natural resource management in Nigeria

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

Agricultural land and other natural resources in agricultural landscapes are important sources of ecological services and goods that the rural poor rely on. While these resources are mainly managed for provisioning (e.g., food, feed, medicine and fuel) and, to a less degree, cultural ES, supporting and regulating ES that underline the biophysical capacity of agro-ecosystems (e.g., soil retention, genetic diversity, and beneficial insect habitat) are often less tangible and under-invested. So far, limited empirical evidence exists to show how ecosystems and their services can better support enhanced multidimensional well-being of the rural poor. This study improves the understanding of the contribution of ES (or indicators of ES) to agricultural productivity, food and nutrition, and income for smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The study will also provide empirical evidence of the role of landscape diversity in the provision of pest control service and honey production. Beneficial insects provide important ES such as pest regulation, pollination and honey production. The flow of these services relies on agricultural management at the site and the functioning of the surrounding landscape determined by land use choices. Understanding the effect of landscape context on ES provision can inform land use management for enhanced ES and reduced agricultural externalities. Finally, policies addressing ES requires knowledge about farmers’ perception about ES, their benefits and management, about which little is known. This research takes the first step in filling the gap and identifying ES that are currently not well-recognized and thus under/mis-managed. Based on this, we draw policy implications for improving sustainable land management and human welfare through ES management.

Contact Person

Wei Zhang (w.zhang@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2015

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Western Africa

Countries

Nigeria

Promoting insect-based ecosystem services in smallholder landscapes in Southeast Asia

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

The maintenance of less-disturbed vegetation in agricultural landscapes provides habitat for beneficial insects, promoting a class of services such as pollination and pest control that are collectively referred to as mobile agent-based ecosystem services (MABES). Patches of land on which MABES are enhanced can provide spatially far-reaching benefits, but a problem arises in fragmented smallholder farming landscapes as to whose land should become the host. The land available to a farmer, along with the set of available inputs, shape the opportunity cost of keeping land in productive use; further, the structure and security of institutions for land tenure – held privately, collectively, or by the state – shape the incentives farmers have to make investments in farm structure. The goal of our research is to improve MABES management and reduce the use of chemical pesticides through coordinated action across farmers at the landscape scale. Our key research questions are: 1) How do farmer objectives, and incentives to coordinate, vary across property size and institutional arrangements for tenure? 2) What are the most appropriate interventions to optimize MABES management across these different size and institutional contexts? We propose a three-year, three-country (Cambodia, Vietnam, China) study to design and evaluate incentives for MABES management, taking into account heterogeneity in property size and institutional arrangements for property rights that characterize China and Southeast Asia. Our choice of countries leverages existing research in Northern China, and covers landscapes i) where smallholder properties are unvaryingly small (> 2ha; Cambodia, China, and areas in North Vietnam) as well as where some consolidation has occurred (> 10ha; Southern Vietnam); and ii) with different prevalence of private property rights (Southern Vietnam and China), collective farming systems (Northern Vietnam), and threats to tenure security (Cambodia). Our research will combine modeling study with household survey. Drawing on existing MABES research in China and published models of MABES provision, a spatially explicit agent-based model of agricultural households will be developed to i) propose candidate incentives for managing MABES and reducing pesticide use, and ii) identify key variables in farmer decision making for the household survey. Survey research in chosen agricultural contexts will follow a 2-stage random sampling design of agricultural communities and households within them, post-stratifying by wealth, property size, land tenure system, and current reliance on pesticides. This survey research will inform the understanding of household level objective functions, decision-making criteria, and community network structure, and will feed back into a detailed agent-based model of farming decisions within the agricultural landscape. Coupled to existing ecological models of MABES provision, we will apply this modeling framework to evaluating and comparing alternative incentives for MABES management and draw implications on reducing pesticides use.

Contact Person

Wei Zhang (w.zhang@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Partners

Society for Community Development - Cambodia, Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy, Institute for Agriculture Environment

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2015

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Southeast Asia

Countries

Cambodia, China, Vietnam

Explore transitioning options for sustainable management of common property resources for enhancing eco-system services - comparative watershed studies from East Africa and South Asia

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:55 +0000

In arid and semi-arid regions of South Asia and East Africa, common property resources including village forest, common lands, pastures, sacred grooves, and water bodies deliver crucial ecosystem services for livelihoods, particularly for the poor. However, common property regimes creates specific governance challenges. In India and Ethiopia various watershed development programs have been developed, mainly by the public sector. There is a strong evidence that various watershed innovations have the potential to achieve a wide range of societal goals such as enhancing ecosystem services provision, increasing productivity and generating diverse income opportunities (Wani et al. 2008, Rockstroem et al. 2010, Garg et al. 2011, Garg and Wani 2012, Singh 2014, Karlberg et al. 2015). However, despite its obvious potentials, many communities fail to overcome collective action challenges in sustaining the ecosystem services over time (Joshi et al. 2005; Wani et al. 2008). The activity proposed here intends to address this unresolved challenge. It envisions a long-term impact of improving the livelihoods in particular of the poor and other marginalized groups (1st ESR core principle) while simultaneously enhancing the capacity of ecosystems and agricultural systems to provide multiple ecosystem services (2nd ESR link). In order to achieve the above mentioned impact we therefore intend to i) identify major institutional and governance challenges of collective action and 2) develop the institutional capacity of pilot watershed communities to respond to these emerging resources management challenges in the upper Ganges and Nile basins. We will employ various participatory tools including focus group discussions (FGD) with the community, a diagnostic questionnaire to prioritize issues and facilitate community discussion on social dilemmas, in particular on upstream-downstream interactions. The results of the focus group discussions will be incorporated into economic games. The games will allow to better understand cooperation patterns in the communities. They will be also used as a starting point for stakeholder discussions on governance in general and self-organization in particular.

Contact Person

Kumar Shalander (k.shalander@cgiar.org), Tilahun Amede (t.amede@cgiar.org), Srinivasa Srigiri (s.srigiri@cgiar.org), Thomas Falk (t.falk@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Partners

Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, India, Addis Ababa University

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Eastern Africa, Southern Asia, Southern Africa

Countries

Ethiopia, India, Mozambique

Agroforestry, biodiversity and other ecosystem services in Central America for improved productivity and resilience of smallholder agriculture

wle_admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

This activity addresses sustaining and restoring productive landscapes through conserving biodiversity with agroforestry systems in El Salvador. Extensive land degradation and consequent food insecurity and poverty remain major problems in Central America, particularly in sub-humid rural areas and for those farmers who depend on subsistence maize-bean based systems. In El Salvador, intensive, unsustainable use of agricultural lands and lack of appropriate technologies for soil conservation, particularly in areas less suitable for agricultural production (e.g., steep slopes), affect the provision of ecosystem services including deforestation and loss of biodiversity, water recharge, soil erosion and nutrient depletion, that ultimately lead to reduced productivity. The sustainability of production and livelihoods in these landscapes will highly depend on ecosystem services in the long term. It is anticipated that this activity will result in the co-design of diverse systems based on agroforestry (AFS) that sustain important biological diversity such as fuel and fruit trees, medicinal plants, pollinators and useful below ground organisms, and associated ecosystem services to improve productivity, profitability and resilience at plot scale and provisioning of ecosystem services; develop better strategies, capacity and tools to facilitate scaling-out/up of AFS in similar areas in the tropics. In this activity W1&2 funds will strengthen attention to soil knowledge as a key missing factor in understanding land degradation and decision making. Specifically in 2015, this activity will: 1) Improve capacity of farmers and local organizations to design AFS for supporting sustainability of crop production and restoration of biodiversity and other ecosystem services at plot and landscape scales (2015-2016) 2) Identify best bet practices of diverse AFS with partners in the field to conserve biodiversity and improve food production and other ecosystem services (2015-2016) 3) Provide knowledge on soils and land use to local organization and government for a better understanding of soil properties, land degradation and potential C sequestration (2015-2016). 4) Improve local capacity to rescue, generate and modelling soil information within local organizations and governments to support decision making (2015-2016).

Contact Person

Pablo Siles (p.siles@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — December 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Latin America

Countries

Peru

Quantification and valuation of Ecosystem Services in different rainfall, socio-economic and agro-ecological regions

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:03 +0000

Rainfed agriculture is globally very important as it covers 80% of the arable land, which is also home to millions of poor and malnourished people. Because of the position of rainfed agriculture on the topography, these areas are generally deprived of water, and current productivity of farmer’s yields are lower by two- to five-folds compared to the potential achievable yields. There is a large scope for not only increasing productivity and improving the livelihoods of the farmers, but also for enhancing the ecosystem services provided by rainfed areas globally. This activity largely focus to identify the different ecosystem services provided by rainfed agriculture, and ways and means to quantify such services and possible mechanisms for rewarding the poor farmers who provide such ecosystem services for sustainable development. ICRISAT has been involved in NRM research since its inception phase. Large amount of biophysical, meteorological, hydrological and cropping system data were collected at field and micro-scale watershed scale. Moreover intensive biophysical, socio-economic, land use and hydrological data was also collected from various community watersheds those are located in different rainfall and ecological regions provides huge opportunity to quantify various ecosystem services at different scale. Moreover these data also could be used to parameterize principle hydrological process, ecosystem trade-off and system level modeling to answer number of research questions regarding quantification and valuation of ESS at different scale.This activity aims to evaluate techno-economic feasibility of different interventions by analysing primary data on ecosystem provisions, namely crop and livestock production, hydrology, income and economic returnes compared to non-interventions control villages and using simulation models for assessing the on-site and off-site impacts.

Contact Person

Anantha KH (k.anantha@cgiar.org)

Lead Center

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Partners

Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka, Government of India, ICAR, NRCAF

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 02, 2013 — December 01, 2017

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Southern Asia

Countries

India

Assessing, understanding and targeting non-responsive soils for improved crop production in smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:03 +0000

a doubling or even tripling of crop productivity in many cases. However, at the same time a great number of reports have transpired about failures to achieve a profitable increase in crop yields when using the recommended fertilizer rates, here referred to as ‘non-responsiveness’. In principle, the efficiency of fertilizer inputs can be curtailed by adverse physical, chemical and/or biological conditions of soils that are inherent to their mineralogy and/or induced by management. The presented study investigated the frequency of non-responsiveness, the underlying biogeochemical causes, and management scenarios to increase fertilizer efficiency in maize and soybean cropping across different smallholder farming landscapes and growing seasons in DRCongo, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. Several series of on-farm trials are carried out to assess crop productivity under different management scenarios. Along this strategic laboratory and field kit analysis are made of soil texture, mineralogy, extractable nutrients, P sorption, exchangeable Al, CEC, fungal-bacterial community composition, root mycorrhizal colonization and plant nutrient deficiencies to understand the relative contribution of soil physical, chemical and biological soil functions to non-responsiveness. To target greater crop productivity and fertilizer efficiency different alternative ISFM management scenarios are tested that include combinations of agricultural lime, secondary and tertiary nutrients, composted manure and deep tillage. Throughout the study close interactions are made with participating farmers for evaluating management histories and disseminating good agronomic practices. In the end the ambition of this project is to deliver soil-specific frameworks for assessing the causes of non-responsiveness that feeds into decision support for improved management scenarios to increase fertilizer use efficiency of maize and soybean crops in smallholder farms.

Contact Person

Dries Roobroeck (D.Roobroeck@cgiar.org)

Partners

Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, Millenium Promise, Agricultural Research Institute - Uyole, Tanzania, Université Catholique de Bukavu - Catholic University of Bukavu, University of Eldoret, Earth Institute, University of Columbia

Completed

Start/End dateAugust 01, 2012 — January 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Eastern Africa, Western Africa

Countries

Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania

Addressing the challenges to sustainable land management through understanding of institutional, social, economic and biophysical constraints to adoption and designing incentives to overcome these obstacles.

wle_admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:28:03 +0000

This project is focused on pro-poor strategies against soil and land degradation in landscapes of Eastern and Southern Africa specifically in the Lushoto district of Tanzania and the Shire Basin of Malawi. The developmental problem addressed by this project is land degradation and its impact on food security and poverty, and low sustainable land management (SLM) adoption rates. This project has a strong gender dimension with the premise that women are key players in household dynamics as well as agricultural activities. Despite this, they often have insecure rights to resources that can negatively influence investments in land. This project will use W1/W2 funding to strengthen the attention on economic analysis, and include the use of participatory games in the engagement with partners and farmers to allow deeper exploration of gender issues. Additionally, this activity will leverage and provide synergies with the upcoming focal regional project on incentives for SLM within farming communities. This project activity will not develop new technical interventions but will instead capitalize on existing knowledge on sustainable land management (SLM) to focus on the barriers to adoption of SLM practices. This will be conducted in partnership with stakeholders (scientific and non-scientific) to identify shared solutions for the biophysical, political, social and economic constraints under which these practices are applied. In order to understand the potential costs and benefits of intensifying agricultural production, or of adopting sustainable land management practices, initiatives must have a better grasp of what influences the decisions of households and individuals within them. Not to say that we know it all already- maybe some of the factors that influence household decisions include trade-offs around labor, capital, asset ownership and exogenous factors such as government policies, implementation of government agricultural strategies, and migration patterns. Analyzing decision-making at a variety of levels from individual to household to landscape and national level is critical for understanding what shapes adoption or non-adoption of specific interventions. Critical to understanding the tradeoffs will be work conducted on land use and land cover change within these agro-ecosystems. Such analysis will then enable design of interventions at multiple levels and within institutions that will be better targeted to meet livelihood needs and environmental constraints and opportunities in order to inform our work and investments outside and beyond CIAT (development, donors, governments, etc.). The social analysis will take into account different needs and perspectives within the community (by gender, age, social status, etc.) to understand and target specific constituents’ needs and constraints (access to capital, resources, labor, etc.). In addition, the Project will be carrying out household surveys in the sites to match the qualitative work and hence provide quantitative metrics to the analyses. It is anticipated that this project will result in more equitable representation for women’s access (as well as other disadvantaged groups currently without much voice in decision making) to communal resources and inclusion in decision making regarding natural resources management for the local governments and partners in their planning and implementation processes. The specific sub-activities will focus on the following questions: i) What are the policy, institutional and social-economic opportunities, challenges and constraints to improving livelihoods of women and men and poor members of farming communities in selected sites (2015); ii) What are the key factors that influence decision-making from farmers to planners and implementers- and how do those decisions affect land use patterns and changes and adoption of interventions (2015). iii) What are the external issues such as biophysical, social, economic and political factors such as – migration, trade, opportunities and types of off-farm work – that affect landscape resource use and in what ways to do they affect land use and agricultural productivity? (2015). iv) How do decisions taken at one scale have an impact on other scales in terms of decision-making and environmental impacts? (2015-2016) v) Building on information received from (i) through (iv); evaluate past and present landscape land cover/land use changes and how human activity contributes to land degradation and reduction in ecosystem services. This activity will make use of historical land cover/ land use change maps for all sites to identify the various land cover categories for multiple ecosystem services (2015).

Contact Person

Katherine Snyder (k.snyder@cgiair.org)

Lead Center

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Partners

Total Land Care, Bunda College of Agriculture, Selian Agricultural Research Institute, Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies

Completed

Start/End dateJanuary 01, 2015 — June 01, 2016

Research ThemeRestoring Degraded Landscapes

Cluster

3.2 Ecosystem services assessment, exploring trade-offs, and equitable planning of restoration interventions

Regions

Southern Africa, Eastern Africa

Countries

Malawi, Tanzania