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Silvopastoral systems (SPS)—production systems integrating trees, forages, and livestock within the same land area—are recognized as critical for reducing tropical deforestation and improving livelihoods, ecosystem services, and carbon sinks. Yet, research on how scaling SPS influences forest cover changes at large geographical scales is scant. Our study delves deeper into the interlinkages between scaling SPS and deforestation. In two surveys conducted among 144 Colombian Amazon livestock producers with traditional or SPS farms, we assessed changes in herd composition between 2016 and 2020. Results showed a change in herd composition, with fewer males and more cows/heifers, suggesting a shift toward specializing in milk production, which, with the appropriate environmental incentives and safeguards, would unlikely broaden deforestation. However, interlinkages between the dairy and beef value chains suggest that extra male cattle from SPS intensification would be moved for fattening as a source of beef to new pastures at the forest border. If SPS scaling interventions in the Colombian Amazon are to be truly deforestation‐free, they need to be designed based on a clear understanding of the interlinkages between food and land systems. Therefore, policies advancing the livestock and land‐use agenda must create mechanisms that support deforestation‐free livestock intensification, based on biophysical and socioeconomic evaluations. While our research results support previous findings, indicating that silvopastoral systems offer ecological and economic benefits at farm level, they also urge that environmental safeguards be put in place to prevent possible deforestation leakage due to the aggregated effects of farm‐level changes in herd composition from broader adoption of sustainable livestock production systems.

La zona costera del Noroeste de México cuenta con una gran cantidad de lagunas costeras, con características y condiciones favorables para el desarrollo de la industria de la acuacultura. Actualmente, el cultivo de camarón es una de las industrias con mayor crecimiento en el mundo. Esta industria ha tenido un crecimiento acelerado en Norte y Sudamérica, y particularmente en México en el Golfo de California. En 2010, 70.3% de la producción acuícola de México provino del litoral del Golfo de California, de la cual 97.7% fue de granjas de camarón. Sin embargo, se han documentado diversos efectos adversos de la acuacultura: conflicto con otras actividades económicas (por ejemplo agricultura, pesquerías y turismo), el cambio de uso de suelo, la deforestación de manglares y diferentes tipos de contaminación (principalmente asociada a la descarga y filtración de materia orgánica). Los isótopos estables de C y N son una valiosa herramienta para detectar los posibles impactos de la acuacultura en los ecosistemas, ya que ayudan a determinar la dinámica de la materia orgánica descargada y/o filtrada a los ecosistemas marinos. Estos estudios permiten evaluar y planear el desarrollo sustentable de la acuacultura. Este enfoque se relaciona con el uso de los fundamentos de la eco-tecnología, los cuales buscan la auto-regulación y el auto-mantenimiento de los ecosistemas, causando alteraciones ecológicas mínimas. ABSTRACTThe coastal zone of Northwest of Mexico has many coastal lagoons with characteristics and conditions for the development of aquaculture industry. Actually, shrimp aquaculture is one of the industries with the major development in the world. This industry has had an accelerate growth in North and South America, and in México, particularly around the Gulf of California. In 2010, around 70.3% of the aquaculture production came from the Gulf of California littoral, and 97.7% of this total was from shrimp farms. However, there are documented many adverse effects associated to aquaculture: conflicts with other activities (e.g. agriculture, fisheries and tourism), change of use of land, mangrove deforestation and different types of pollution (mainly associated to discharge and filtration of residual organic matter). The stable isotopes of C and N areis a valuable tool in studies to detect the possible impacts of aquaculture on ecosystems, because help to determine the dynamic of organic matter discharged and/or filtered to marine environments. These studies allow evaluate and plan the sustainable development of aquaculture. This approach is related to eco-technology fundaments which seeks auto-regulation and auto-maintenance of ecosystems, causing minimal ecological disruption.

It is widely recognized that increasing agricultural production to the levels needed to feed an expanding world population requires sharply increased public investment in research and development and widespread adoption of new technologies, but funding for national and international agricultural research has rather declined in recent years. In this situation, priority setting has become increasingly important for allocating scarce research resources among competing needs to achieve greater impacts. Using partial equilibrium economic surplus models and poverty impact simulations, this paper assesses cassava research priorities in Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, and Asia based on the potential economic and poverty reduction impacts of alternative research and technology options. The results showed that efficient planting material production and distribution systems and sustainable crop and soil fertility management practices have the greatest expected economic and poverty reduction impacts in the three regions. Lack of clean planting materials is a major constraint to adoption and it is envisaged that efficient production and distribution systems for planting material can accelerate technology adoption by farmers. Similarly, sustainable crop and soil fertility management practices play a key role in closing the observed yield gaps, especially in Africa. The paper discusses the results of the priority assessment for key cassava research options and concludes with the implications for cassava research priorities.