Conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Europe: Looking to the future by learning from the past

Lécuyer, Lou; Alard, Didier; Calla, Simon; Fickel, Thomas; Heinsoo, Katrin; Henle, Klaus; Herzon, Irina; Hodgson, Isla D.; Quétier, Fabien; McCracken, D. I.; McMahon, Barry J.; Melts, Indrek; Sands, D. P. A.; Skrimizea, Eirini; Watt, Allan D.; White, Rehema M.; Young, Juliette

doi:10.1016/bs.aecr.2021.10.005

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 247 publications

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“…Understanding the effects of land-use change and human perturbation on wildlife population ecology is essential to design data-driven decision-making programmes to manage wildlife as land-use continues to change in line with social, economic and political landscapes (Renwick et al 2013; O’Rourke, 2019; Lecuyer et al 2022). Conflict species such as deer that have successfully navigated human modification and expanded out of their historic range, must be studied to understand and prepare for future land-use change scenarios e.g., increased afforestation, farm abandonment, rewilding and continued encroachment of human settlements that have been observed worldwide (Hoogendorm et al 2019; Castillo et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to predict wildlife distribution and relative density with low-resolution data

Murphy

Ciuti

Burkitt

et al. 2023

Preprint

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For species of conservation concern and human-wildlife conflict, it is imperative that spatial population data are available to design adaptive-management strategies and be prepared to meet challenges such as land use and climate change, disease outbreaks, and invasive species spread. This can be difficult, perhaps impossible, if spatially explicit wildlife data are not available. Low-resolution areal counts, however, are common in wildlife monitoring, i.e., number of animals reported for a region, usually corresponding to administrative subdivisions, e.g., region, province, county, departments, or cantons. Bayesian areal disaggregation regression is a solution to exploit areal counts and provide conservation biologists with high-resolution species distribution predictive models. This method originated in epidemiology but lacks experimentation in ecology. It provides a plethora of applications to change the way we collect and analyse data for wildlife populations. Based on high-resolution environmental rasters, the disaggregation method disaggregates the number of individuals observed in a region and distributes them at the pixel level (e.g., 5x5 km or finer resolution), therefore converting the low-resolution data into high-resolution distribution and indices of relative density. In our demonstrative study, we disaggregated areal count data from hunting bag returns to disentangle the changing distribution and population dynamics of three deer species (red, sika and fallow) in Ireland from 2000 to 2018. We show an application of Bayesian areal disaggregation regression method and document marked increases in relative population density and extensive range expansion for each of the three deer species across Ireland. We challenged our disaggregated model predictions by correlating them with independent deer surveys carried out in field sites and alternative deer distribution models built using presence-only and presence-absence data. Finding high correlation with both independent datasets, we highlighted the accurate ability of Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to capture fine scale spatial patterns of animal distribution. This study opens new scenarios for wildlife managers and conservation biologists to reliably use regional count data disregarded so far in species distribution modelling. Thus, representing a step forward in our ability to monitor wildlife population and meet challenges in our changing world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to predict wildlife distribution and relative density with low-resolution data

Murphy

Ciuti

Burkitt

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…While several scholars emphasise the importance of embracing diversity in processes that seek to identify common goals and acknowledge that multiple pathways are needed in order to reach the goals (e.g. Blythe et al 2018;Béné et al 2019;Soininen et al 2022;Lécuyer et al 2022;Calla et al 2022) the focus on consensus and stability might obscure power relations and problems that need to be addressed and thus weaken the opportunity to imagine different futures (Muiderman et al 2020). By disregarding the political and normative nature of transformations towards sustainability, the process may become depoliticised.…”

Section: Accountabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformations towards Sustainable Food Systems : Pathways, Governance, and Actors in a Swedish and European Union Context

Eliasson

2023

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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Food systems are central to global sustainability, while being complex systems where places and people are intertwined over large distances and at different scales. Transformations towards sustainable food systems have been called for in both research and policy, and Sweden and the European Union have declared high ambitions to act as global leaders in these transformations. While food production in Sweden and the European Union is often portrayed as largely sustainable in a global context, the region is highly dependent on food imports, with relatively large environmental footprints globally.This thesis aims to explore transformative pathways towards sustainability, with a particular focus on sustainable food systems, in a Swedish and European Union context. The thesis specifically studies the following research questions: (1) What constitutes transformations towards sustainability, and in particular sustainable food systems, from the perspectives of Swedish stakeholders, including food system practitioners, and European Union policy frameworks? (2) What roles, responsibilities, and agency do Swedish stakeholders, including food system practitioners and European Union policy frameworks, attribute to different actors? (3) How can interconnections and accountability in global food systems be understood and governed in light of societal transformations towards sustainability? (4) What are the implications for transformative pathways towards sustainability?The thesis builds on four papers that use focus group methodology (PI and PII), involving Swedish stakeholders, including food-system practitioners, analyses of European Green Deal policies (PII and PIII), and quantitative investigation of phosphorus fertiliser use in Brazilian soybean production and related biodiversity impacts (PIV).Four overarching conclusions are drawn from the findings: (I) Shared goals and consensus are emphasised as essential, while a diversity of transformative pathways and understandings of challenges and priorities needs to be recognised, with attention being paid to how specific choices might include and exclude pathways and actors. (II) Emerging shifts in how food is valued open up opportunities for transformative change in which the 'true' cost of food is acknowledged, alongside a recognition of non-economic values of food, which presupposes alignment at the practical, political, and personal levels. (III) The identified pathways comprise public accountability regimes, incentives for more sustainable consumption, regulations to reduce resource use and impacts of food production. (IV) The attribution of accountability to trading operators in the accountability regime proposed by the European Union highlights an extended focus from food production and consumption towards regulating flows and intermediate actors in food systems.

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“…This is a key aspect in conflict transformation, that sees power dynamics as one of the main underlying cause of conflict and aims at providing more agency to actors and structures (Rodríguez and Inturias, 2018). Food system transformation will be supported by any process, including such transdisciplinary methods, that can overcome power asymmetries and reposition power as a force for conflict transformation (Skrimizea et al, 2020;Lecuyer et al, 2022). The choice of an independent professional facilitator was also a conscious decision taken after reflecting our own positionality as researchers; it permitted to distance ourselves from the process of the T-labs and avoid the risk of bias and power imbalances between researchers and participants (Ely, 2021).…”

Section: Lessons Learned For Promoting Inclusiveness and Fairnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The trade-off between productive agriculture and farmland biodiversity can, however, lead to conflicts, which are understood here as social conflicts among actors with different, and often conflicting, attitudes, and where power asymmetries between actors occur (Redpath et al, 2013). In the case of the dramatic and rapid change in France over pesticide use-here perceived as a top-down food system transformationconflicts between stakeholders are emerging over how to enact such a policy, and its implications for farmers and their practices (Lecuyer et al, 2022). Viewing such conflicts as expressions of more systemic issues and symptoms of unsatisfied needs and marginalization of certain stakeholders (Skrimizea et al, 2020), it becomes clear that sustainable (agricultural) transformations are complex and contested governance challenges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing Food System Transformation and Addressing Conflicts Through Transdisciplinary Methodologies: Strengths and Limitations of the Community Voice Method, T-Labs, Film-Making and the Miracle Question

Calla

Lécuyer

Skrimizea

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Food systems are changing through various socioeconomic and policy processes. For example, in France, following concerns over the effects of pesticides on ecosystems and health, the French government launched the “Ecophyto II+” plan in 2019 that aims for a 50% reduction in the use of pesticides by 2025. This top-down food system transformation is leading to conflicts between stakeholders over how to enact such a policy, and its implications for farmers and their practices. By adopting a transdisciplinary research approach, we explore conflicts linked to food system transformations in the context of three case studies in France. The case studies revolve around conflicts over pesticide use and reduction in three agricultural settings in Bourgogne Franche-Comté, namely (a) water management near Auxerre, (b) apiculture-agriculture relations in the Jura, and (c) viticulture-local resident relationships near Macon. We use four innovative transdisciplinary techniques to integrate inclusively the viewpoints of diverse stakeholders with the aim of generating actionable responses to transform food systems. First, the Community Voice Method (CVM) includes filmed semi-structured interviews and integrates a number of opportunities for participation and successive rounds of data analysis. Second, the interviewees were asked a “miracle question” that encouraged them to step back from conflicts and practices toward their ideal vision of agriculture and food systems. Third, the CVM resulted in the production of four films that relate the visions and perception of each case study interviewees in their own words and in their own setting. Finally, Transformation Labs (T-Labs) conveyed the main results of the CVM knowledge synthesis through the films produced and opened a dialogue toward the development of solutions. We review the four techniques, how they were implemented in the three case studies, and with which outcomes. Thus the aim of this paper is to offer reflections and lessons learnt from different transdisciplinary processes as a means of strengthening their application in other contexts. We argue that such methodologies, whilst resource-consuming, are essential to fully understand the complexity of food system transformations from the often-conflictual perspectives and competing knowledge claims of the multiple actors involved. In addition, we highlight the role of these techniques in building long-term trust between researchers and other stakeholders, and the benefits in terms of opening up dialogue and developing long-term solutions, as determined by the stakeholders themselves.

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Conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Europe: Looking to the future by learning from the past

Cited by 15 publications

References 247 publications

Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to predict wildlife distribution and relative density with low-resolution data

Bayesian areal disaggregation regression to predict wildlife distribution and relative density with low-resolution data

Transformations towards Sustainable Food Systems : Pathways, Governance, and Actors in a Swedish and European Union Context

Advancing Food System Transformation and Addressing Conflicts Through Transdisciplinary Methodologies: Strengths and Limitations of the Community Voice Method, T-Labs, Film-Making and the Miracle Question

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