Labelling in Mediterranean agroforestry landscapes: a Delphi study on relevant sustainability indicators

Abstract

In the face of unsustainable land-use changes including intensified agricultural production and land abandonment, agroforestry systems have the potential to support a diversity of social and ecological functions in agricultural landscapes. Mediterranean agroforestry landscapes have been conserved through traditional practices, and new concepts are necessary to assure the viability of these practices. Labels bear the opportunity to indicate sustainable management along the supply chain and, at the same time, generate higher incomes for sustainably producing farms. We have used an expert-based Delphi survey with three iterative surveys to analyse (1) the relevance of different sustainability aspects in agroforestry systems, (2) the suitability of derived indicators for labelling, and (3) the specific potentials and barriers for labelling agroforestry production or ecological UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)—are considered relevant for agroforestry systems. Translating these goals into suitable indicators is the more challenging step, revealing the lack of appropriate data, the complexity of sustainability challenges, and a low willingness for producers to adapt their practices as key limiting factors. The assessment of the labelling schemes indicated coherent responses despite the diverse backgrounds of participants. Alongside eco-labels and social labels, Geographic Indications were suggested as the most suitable options for the agroforestry context, although these have not been invented for reflecting sustainability in the first place. Although experts are highly aware of social-cultural values of agroforestry systems, they see little potential to use those social-cultural aspects for labelling agroforestry products. Initial costs and missing consumer awareness for agroforestry are major reasons for not joining labelling schemes. We discuss the possibility of an agroforestry label and why elements of Geographic Indication labels may fit well for this purpose.

Agroforestry for sustainable landscape management

“…1). Interestingly, a number of articles describe comparative research that has been performed across two regional landscape corridors (Buck et al 2020); between two protected areas (Therville et al 2020); between the four tropical countries of Honduras, Indonesia, Peru, and Uganda (Zinngrebe et al 2020); across the Mediterranean Basin (Flinzberger et al 2020;Wolpert et al 2020); and across ten agroforestry landscapes and landuse systems in the European Union (Rolo et al 2020). Studies were carried out at local (n = 3), regional (n = 6), national (n = 1), and supranational scales (n = 1).…”

“…The contributions typically triangulate various qualitative and quantitative methods and partly combine approaches from the social, ecological, agronomical, and geographical sciences. Many rely on participatory methods, such as serious games (Andreotti et al 2020), Delphi assessments (Flinzberger et al 2020), or stakeholder deliberations (Rolo et al 2020).…”

“…In this way, this study proves how adopting a value-network approach is useful for improving understanding of the values that local people attribute to agroforestry landscapes, and thus also ultimately for improving sustainability. Flinzberger et al (2020) look at the expanding empirical evidence that agroforestry systems have the potential to support a diversity of social and ecological values in agricultural landscapes across the Mediterranean Basin. They examine the use of market labels that both communicate to the consumer that the product is sourced through sustainable management along the supply chain and at the same time secure the financial sustainability of farms.…”

“…The study generates novel insights into structural characteristics of effective governance, including the benefits of building on established networks of local land users, and shed light on how flows of finance, regulation and information affect potential for agroforestry support. Flinzberger et al (2020) apply an expert Delphi survey to evaluate terms to convey sustainability in agroforestry systems through of labeling agroforestry products. Delphi surveys have been frequently performed in socio-economic studies.…”

Exploring land-use histories of tree-crop landscapes: a cross-site comparison in the Mediterranean Basin

“…In fact, most of the renaissance activities in the treecrop landscapes have been driven by cultural values such as tourism, outdoor recreation or sense of place. Nevertheless, these often fail to lead to increased profitability for land managers (Flinzberger et al 2020). With the Mediterranean Basin being heavily affected by climate change, tree-crop landscapes may offer manifold adaptation and mitigation options, in addition to the cultural values they provide.…”