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In mountains, grasslands managed for livestock production sustain local economies, culture and identity. However, their future fodder production is highly uncertain under climate change: While an extended growing season may be beneficial, more frequent and intense summer droughts could also reduce fodder quantity and quality. Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are another major driver of grassland biomass production, but combined effects of future land use transitions and climate change are rarely quantified. We modelled combined climate and LULC scenarios for grassland production of the Maurienne Valley (French Alps) by 2085. We built a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) from long-term grassland production monitoring data complemented with expert knowledge. We assessed the potential of two candidate adaptations, intensification as an incremental solution and silvopastoralism as a transformative solution to compensate combined impacts of two climate scenarios and three land use change scenarios. Total biomass production was far more sensitive to LULC than to climate scenarios. Production losses were largest under the conservation LULC scenario (−28% on average between 2020 and 2085), followed by the tourism development scenario (−7%) and the business-as-usual scenario (+3%). Climate change under representative concentration pathways (RCP) 8.5 altered the seasonality of production by increasing potential production from May to July while decreasing summer regrowth. Synthesis and applications: Changes in LULC are more decisive for global biomass production than climate change. However, under the most extreme climate change scenario (RCP8.5), the seasonal shift in production and increased interannual variability threaten the current grass-based protected designation of origin (PDO) production system. Only the intensification adaptation solution showed significant gains in total biomass production. Still, the silvopastoralism would require less investment compared to the

Sustainable harvest of wildlife is a major food security and conservation issue. In Africa, where wildlife is harvested mainly for subsistence, this remains a challenge. In this study, using waterbirds as model for natural resources, we assessed the sustainability of harvest through fishing bycatch on Lake Fitri (Chad). We estimated the abundance of 24 target taxa through aerial distance sampling over four consecutive years (2018–2021) and in parallel estimated the number of birds harvested through interviews of a sample of 105 out of approximately 5500 fishermen. By modelling their potential excess growth, we found a high risk of overexploitation for four species, including the world-threatened Black Crowned Crane Balearica pavonina, likely due to an influx of fishermen to Lake Fitri fleeing the Boko Haram security crisis. Synthesis and applications: This work is likely the first quantitative approach of bird harvest sustainability in Africa. It should contribute to fill a methodological and an information gap in the strategic planification of several multilateral environmental agreements like the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement and the Ramsar Convention. In particular, this work could help implementing adaptive management of natural resources (including birds) in Ramsar site management plans. African wetlands such as Lake Fitri may not be able to provide enough natural resources in the medium term for movements of displaced civilians forced by armed conflict into such biodiversity strongholds.

High-dimensional climate data collected on a daily, monthly, or seasonal time step are now commonly used to predict crop yields worldwide with standard statistical models or machine learning models. Since the use of all available individual climate variables generally leads to calculation problems, over-fitting, and over-parameterization, it is necessary to aggregate the climate data used as predictors. However, there is no consensus on the best way to perform this task, and little is known about the impacts of the type of aggregation method used and of the temporal resolution of weather data on model performances. Based on historical data from 1981 to 2016 of soybean yield and climate on 3447 sites worldwide, this study compares different temporal resolutions (daily, monthly, or seasonal) and dimension reduction techniques (principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square regression, and their functional counterparts) to aggregate climate data used as inputs of machine learning and linear regression (LR) models predicting yields. Results showed that random forest models outperformed and were less sensitive to climate aggregation methods than LRs when predicting soybean yields. With our models, the use of daily climate data did not improve predictive performance compared to monthly data. Models based on PCA or averages of monthly data showed better predictive performance compared to those relying on more sophisticated dimension reduction techniques. By highlighting the high sensitivity of projected impact of climate on crop yields to the temporal resolution and aggregation of climate input data, this study reveals that model performances can be improved by choosing the most appropriate time resolution and aggregation techniques. Practical recommendations are formulated in this article based on our results.

A shift in how to measure well-being using more appropriate and coherent indicators has been long called for. Nonetheless, monetary indicators, such as income and GDP, or utilitarian frameworks, remain the most common approaches used. The capability approach (CA) has been advocated as an alternative framework to measure well-being. This paper aims to capture the state-of-the-art of how the CA has been applied to assess or characterise the well-being impacts of project-based development interventions in Global South countries. The ultimate goal is to discuss whether the CA provides more varied and complex indicators of well-being and therefore more comprehensive impact assessments. The results highlight that qualitative and participatory approaches are frequently applied methods to assess individual capabilities, most often related to educational, economic, social and empowerment dimensions. Capabilities linked to environmental and recreational activities, as well as collective capabilities, were significantly overlooked. Quantitative approaches to impact evaluation were less frequently used. This paper provides a first systematic review on the use of the CA to assess well-being impacts. Future applications of the CA could focus on better integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches for robust impact assessments and targeting understudied capabilities.

Evaluators widely utilize theory of change or impact pathway approaches to design and evaluate interventions. In research settings, there is increasing demand for ex ante impact pathways that are place-based, coherent, and plausible, in order to foster more impactful interventions. Foresight approaches, which enable a collaborative, structured, and systematic way to anticipate, prepare, and affect the course of change, can help achieve this by exploring diverse future scenarios, the consequences of different assumptions, or how to overcome threats and leverage opportunities for change. Through three case examples, we show how foresight tools used prior to developing impact pathways can free participants from preconceived notions of the intervention's context, actors, and impacts, and thus support creative and systemic analyses of the future to rethink the present. They extend the analysis of how different actors can shape the future, identifying effects that might otherwise be overlooked or marginalized during the planning and evaluation of the intervention, while also helping to identify the conditions necessary for desired impacts. Nonetheless, their use entails evaluative judgments about the potential impacts to be prioritized in intervention design and evaluation. This is especially relevant in the case of research where scientific or technical aspects are usually prioritized. Finally, there is an entry cost to foresight tools for evaluators, in particular for the facilitation of strategic thinking about the future. However, we recommend them as a worthwhile addition to the evaluator's toolbox to broaden the scope of design and evaluation.

How could we know if agricultural development interventions make contributions to sustainable development goals (SDGs)? Genetically engineered (GE) crops are celebrated as a class of technological interventions that can realize multiple SDGs. But recent studies have revealed the gap between GE crop program goals and the approaches used to assess their impacts. Using four comprehensive reviews of GE crop socio-economic impacts, we identify common shortcomings across three themes: (a) scope, (b) approaches and (c) heterogeneity. We find that the evaluation sciences literature offers alternative assessment approaches that can enable evaluators to better assess impacts, and inform learning and decision-making. We recommend the use of methods that enable evaluations to look beyond the agronomic and productive effects of individual traits to understand wider socio-economic effects.

Firewood is a key energy source in developing countries, but its consideration for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) purposes suffers from both data and methodological issues. A specific literature review revealed considerable variability in the way these issues have been addressed in existing studies. To improve current practices, a framework for proper inclusion of all environmental impacts related to traditional firewood uses is proposed, and a configurable dataset for other studies was produced. The framework was then applied to a case study on shea butter production, where firewood accounting appeared to be one of the main sources of discrepancies in the results of existing studies. For each parameter related to firewood uses and their impacts, data and methodological choices that LCA practitioners may face were then investigated through uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. Firewood consumption volumes and emission factors from firewood combustion proved to be the most critical parameters for all environmental issues, and the options explored in this study to tackle these data collection issues can be adapted to other case studies. Beyond data matters, the main methodological challenge for firewood accounting lies in estimating the fraction of firewood from non-renewable sources. Use of the default values from the spatially explicit supply-demand WISDOM model is recommended here. For the shea butter value chain in Burkina Faso, one of the main solutions for mitigating environmental impacts would be to reduce firewood consumption by promoting improved cookstoves, improving boiling practices, or replacing firewood with other biomass sources, such as shea nutshells.

BACKGROUND: Potato varieties have diverse biophysical characteristics, so it is important for breeders to have the capacity to choose those that meet the preferences of end users, such as mealiness, firmness, and taste, among others. Combining user preferences with descriptive information regarding the sensory characteristics of boiled potatoes can contribute to the improvement of consumer-driven varieties. This study aimed to factor in the preferences of end users to improve the prospects for varietal acceptance, adoption, and discrimination among genotypes in potato breeding. RESULTS: The priority quality traits (traits that play the most significant roles in acceptance and adoption) of the boiled potatoes were determined by evaluating gender and livelihood using the G+ tool. The G+ tool is designed to assess gender impact on roots, tubers and bananas (RTB) traits by serving as a validation check to reflect on important gender-based issues in agricultural food systems in order to reduce harm and promote positive impact. Potato genotypes were differentiated by penetration (textural parameters as measured by standard texture probe) and the procedure was repeatable, as there was no significant difference between the cooking replicates at 40 min of cooking. Instrument-based texture parameters, such as penetration peak force (hardness/firmness) and area (area under the curve, which represents energy needed to penetrate) of boiled potato tubers were significantly associated with sensory attributes such as fracturability and hardness in the mouth. An attempt to differentiate genotypes using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) revealed that the average results observed for the calibration for yellow color (r2 = 0.70), homogeneity of color (r2 = 0.48), moisture in mass (r2 = 0.40), and uniformity of texture (r2 = 0.56) suggested that these parameters could be used for initial breeding screening purposes. CONCLUSIONS: The preferred traits of the boiled potato can be integrate

Drought impacts monitoring has been called the missing piece in drought assessment. The potential to improve drought management is high but uncertain due to rare analyses of impacts datasets, predominantly because there are few impacts monitoring programmes to generate the datasets. Drought impacts monitoring is conducted on the ground in much of Brazil by local observers at monthly and municipality scale to support the Brazilian Drought Monitor. In Ceará state, within drought-prone semiarid northeast Brazil, over 3600 drought impacts reports were completed by agricultural extension officers from 2019 to 2022. We investigated, through manual coding and observer interviews, the reported drought impacts and impact drivers. Analysis provided a catalogue of the experienced impacts and showed that impacts still occur, and are often normalised, during non-drought periods, sometimes as lingering effects of previous droughts. The impact drivers were predominantly non-extreme hydrometeorological conditions or a result of socio-technical vulnerabilities such as insufficient water infrastructure. The normalisation of “impacts” included, in particular: a generally accepted high level of crop losses and consistently low reservoir levels around which the agricultural and domestic systems are adapted. Conventional drought indices often did not align with experienced impact severity, highlighting the limitations of relying solely on these indices for emergency response. Continual impacts monitoring could be extremely valuable anywhere in the world for identifying vulnerabilities and informing proactive measures to reduce drought and other hazard risk, in addition to guiding targeted mitigation efforts.

Coffee beans are a major agricultural product and coffee is one of the most widely traded commodities and consumed beverages globally. Supply chains and cropping systems are very diverse, with contrasted potentials and performance, as well as environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies are needed to inform on reduction in impacts, but there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the variability of existing LCA results and impacts of the cropping systems and their trade-offs along the supply chains. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, the paper presents a systematic literature review of coffee LCA, considering a total of 34 studies covering 234 coffee systems. Global warming potential (GWP) was the impact category most reported in the literature, but the results varied greatly at both the farm and drink levels. For the former, the GWP values ranged from 0.15 to 14.5 (median: 3.6) kg CO2 eq./kg green coffee beans and for the latter the values ranged from 2 to 23 (median: 8.8) kg CO2 eq./kg consumed coffee in drinks. Main contributors to the GWP of production of green coffee beans were land use change (LUC), fertilisers and wet processing. However, there were great inconsistencies across studies in terms of LUC accounting, field emissions and wet process modelling. Green coffee beans production was also the main contributor to the GWP of coffee consumed, followed by brewing and coffee cup washing. Some studies covered other impacts, in addition to GWP. At both the farm and drink levels, fertilisers and pesticides were the main contributors to eutrophication and acidification, and to ecotoxicity, respectively. Brewing was the second main contributor at the drink level, in some cases the top contributor for energy-related indicators. Assumptions on packaging, cup washing and waste disposal were highly variable across studies. Water impact indicators were hardly comparable due to the system variability and method inconsistencies. Given the lar

One-Health is an umbrella term that integrates the health of the environment, humans and non-human animals. This approach is applied here to elucidate the impact of non-native invasive species on aquaculture and food security. Despite inherent biases against these species, a better understanding of their characteristics allows for the identification of those of greatest concern, minimizing the risk of food shortages and infectious diseases. This review summarises the positive and negative impacts of non-native species, delineating the specific areas they may impact. Additionally, this review gives an insight to the expertise and stakeholders that would need to be included if a “One-Health” approach were to be implemented by policymakers to better control non-native species. Detailed examples illustrate the consequences of non-native species on trophic dynamics, ecosystem health, water chemistry, and human health, emphasizing the importance of managing them within a multidimensional framework. The “One-Health” approach is explained, and suggestions are made on how certain non-native species could be used to contribute to food security in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, recommendations are made to promote a more inclusive management strategy.

Purpose: Anthropogenic activities are a major driver of soil and land degradation. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and the global nature of most value chains, the modelling of the impacts of land use on soil quality for application in life cycle assessment (LCA) requires a regionalised assessment with global coverage. This paper proposes an approach to quantify the impacts of land use on soil quality, using changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks as a proxy, following the latest recommendation of the Life Cycle Initiative. Methods: An operational set of SOC-based characterisation factors for land occupation and land transformation were derived using spatial datasets (1 km resolution) and aggregated at the national and global levels. The developed characterisation factors were tested by means of a case study analysis, investigating the impact on soil quality caused by land use activities necessary to provide three alternative energy supply systems for passenger car transport (biomethane, ethanol, and solar electricity). Results obtained by applying characterisation factors at local, regional, and national levels were compared, to investigate the role of the level of regionalisation on the resulting impacts. Results and discussion: Global maps of characterisation factors are presented for the 56 land use types commonly used in LCA databases, together with national and global values. Urban and industrial land uses present the highest impacts on SOC stocks, followed by severely degraded pastures and intensively managed arable lands. Instead, values obtained for extensive pastures, flooded crops, and urban green areas often report an increase in SOC stocks. Results show that the ranking of impacts of the three energy systems considered in the case study analysis is not affected by the level of regionalisation of the analysis. In the case of biomethane energy supply, impacts assessed using national characterisation factors are more than double thos

The Great Green Wall (GGW) is an international initiative to combat land degradation and restore native plant life in the Sahel, but due to a lack of monitoring tools, it remains unknown to be considered as success or failure. Here, we quantify the impact of GGW plantations and Corporate plantations (privately owned) in Sahelian Senegal based on remote sensing data and deep learning by mapping individual trees and their biomass across the Sahel region. Tree features (cover, density and above-ground biomass) have been computed in every hectare of 42 plantations (of both, corporate and GGW) and their surrounding non-planted areas, subsequently used for a comparative analysis of tree features. Results showed that gains in tree features varied substantially between plantations. At plot scale, among Corporate plantations, the average gain in tree density was 61.16±42.12 trees/ha while it was 5.7 ± 5.8 trees/ha for GGW plantations. In regards to tree cover, the average gain was 618.5 ± 588.5 m2/ha for Corporate plantations and 71.72±108.89 m2/ha for GGW plantations. For the above-ground biomass, the average gain was 3.36±3.29 tons/ha in the Corporate plantations and 0.46±0.67 tons/ha in the GGW plantations. The average gain in foliar biomass in the Corporate plantations was 0.15±0.13 tons/ha and in the GGW plantations, it was 0.02±0.03 tons/ha. The average gain in wood biomass was 3.21±3.12 tons/ha among the Corporate plantations and was 0.43±0.64 tons/ha among the GGW plantations. Notably, regarding the relative benefit in terms of ecosystem services per unit of density, each tree in GGW plantations contribute more to ecosystem services per unit of density compared to Corporate plantations. In GGW, each gained tree contributes 18 m2 of cover, 116.1 kg of above-ground biomass, 5.6 kg of foliar biomass, and 114.2 kg of woody biomass, while in corporate plantations, on the other hand, each gained tree adds 9 m2 of cover, 48.4 kg of above-ground biomass, 2.3 kg of foliar bio

In the face of growing demand for local products, farmers are developing direct sales. Our research examines the impact of this strategy on farms' sustainability. Focusing on the market gardening sector, we compare metropolitan France and its overseas departments: Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Reunion. These insular economies must meet national and European requirements for healthy and local production while complying with specific organizational and geographic conditions. If direct selling is considered an innovation, we first identify the factors, such as characteristics of farmers and their farm, determining its adoption. While establishing the link between such an innovation and performance, we study the impact of direct sales on farms' sustainability, inspired by the IDEA method. We use representative farm data from 2010 and 2016 and perform a propensity score matching coupled with a difference-in-difference analysis. While the impact of direct sales on sustainability is effective in metropolitan France, more nuanced results are observed in insular economies. Whatever the location, direct sales provide a response to consumers' expectations in terms of product diversification. While direct sales are initially associated with product processing and tourism, these activities are gradually abandoned, in particular, because of the skills necessary to their realization. In metropolitan France, direct selling modifies the relationship with certifications by developing organic production to the detriment of other types of certification. It is also accompanied by output and employment growth. Our results question the role that the environment in which farmers evolve plays in the sustainability dynamics of farms in island economies.

The invasive hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax is considered a proliferating threat to pollinators in Europe and Asia. While the impact of this species on managed honey bees is well-documented, effects upon other pollinator populations remain poorly understood. Nonetheless, dietary analyses indicate that the hornets consume a diversity of prey, fuelling concerns for at-risk taxa. Here, we quantify the impact of V. velutina upon standardised commercially-reared colonies of the European bumblebee, Bombus terrestris terrestris. Using a landscape-scale experimental design, we deploy colonies across a gradient of local V. velutina densities, utilising automated tracking to non-invasively observe bee and hornet behaviour, and quantify subsequent effects upon colony outcomes. Our results demonstrate that hornets frequently hunt at B. terrestris colonies, being preferentially attracted to those with high foraging traffic, and engaging in repeated—yet entirely unsuccessful—predation attempts at nest entrances. Notably however, we show that B. terrestris colony weights are negatively associated with local V. velutina densities, indicating potential indirect effects upon colony growth. Taken together, these findings provide the first empirical insight into impacts on bumblebees at the colony level, and inform future mitigation efforts for wild and managed pollinators.

Vaccination is considered as the main tool for the Global Control and Eradication Strategy for peste des petits ruminants (PPR), and the efficacity of the PPR-vaccine in conferring long-life immunity has been established. Despite this, previous studies asserted that vaccination can be expensive and consequently, the effectiveness of disease control may not necessarily translate to overall profit for farmers. Also, the consequences of PPR control on socioeconomic indicators like food and nutrition security at a macro-national level have not been explored thoroughly. Therefore, this study seeks to assess ex-ante the impact of PPR control strategies on farm-level profitability and the socioeconomic consequences concerning food and nutrition security at a national level in Senegal. A bi-level system dynamics model, compartmentalised into five modules consisting of integrated production-epidemiological, economics, disease control, marketing, and policy modules, was developed with the STELLA Architect software, validated, and simulated for 30 years at a weekly timestep. The model was parameterised with data from household surveys from pastoral areas in Northern Senegal and relevant existing data. Nine vaccination scenarios were examined considering different vaccination parameters (vaccination coverage, vaccine wastage, and the provision of government subsidies). The findings indicate that compared to a no-vaccination scenario, all the vaccination scenarios for both 26.5% (actual vaccination coverage) and 70% (expected vaccination coverage) resulted in statistically significant differences in the gross margin earnings and the potential per capita consumption for the supply of mutton and goat meat. At the prevailing vaccination coverage (with or without the provision of government subsidies), farm households will earn an average gross margin of $69.43 (annually) more than without vaccination, and the average per capita consumption for mutton and goat meat will increase by

The Global Plant Health Assessment (GPHA) is a collective, volunteer-based effort to assemble expert opinions on plant health and disease impacts on ecosystem services based on published scientific evidence. The GPHA considers a range of forest, agricultural, and urban systems worldwide. These are referred to as (Ecoregion × Plant System), i.e., selected case examples involving keystone plants in given parts of the world. The GPHA focuses on infectious plant diseases and plant pathogens, but encompasses the abiotic (e.g., temperature, drought, and floods) and other biotic (e.g., animal pests and humans) factors associated with plant health. Among the 33 (Ecoregion × Plant System) considered, 18 are assessed as in fair or poor health, and 20 as in declining health. Much of the observed state of plant health and its trends are driven by a combination of forces, including climate change, species invasions, and human management. Healthy plants ensure (i) provisioning (food, fiber, and material), (ii) regulation (climate, atmosphere, water, and soils), and (iii) cultural (recreation, inspiration, and spiritual) ecosystem services. All these roles that plants play are threatened by plant diseases. Nearly none of these three ecosystem services are assessed as improving. Results indicate that the poor state of plant health in sub-Saharan Africa gravely contributes to food insecurity and environmental degradation. Results further call for the need to improve crop health to ensure food security in the most populated parts of the world, such as in South Asia, where the poorest of the poor, the landless farmers, are at the greatest risk. The overview of results generated from this work identifies directions for future research to be championed by a new generation of scientists and revived public extension services. Breakthroughs from science are needed to (i) gather more data on plant health and its consequences, (ii) identify collective actions to manage plant systems, (iii) e

While the nutritional quality and environmental impact of diets are widely assessed, different production modes (organic vs. conventional) remain understudied as for sustainability. The present study examines the associations between different dimensions of sustainability of food purchases and sociodemographic factors. Households (n = 462) were included in this cross-sectional study using quota sampling in Montpellier Metropolitan Area. Food items acquired over one month were registered in a food supply diary, and the expenditure share of each food group (including organic food) was estimated. Validated indexes estimated scores reflecting the nutritional quality and the environmental impact of food purchases according to these expenditure shares. Associations were tested for each sustainability dimension using linear and multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic factors (e.g. age, education, living area). The age of the household's reference person was consistently related to the sustainability dimensions of food purchases, albeit in different ways. While older age was associated with better nutritional quality (estimate for age >50 years vs. age between 30-50 [95%CI]=0.91[0.29;1.54]), it was associated with a higher environmental impact (estimate for age >50 years vs. age between 30-50 [95%CI]=1.84[0.95;2.73]). Households with a highly educated reference person (OR master's degree vs. lower education levels [95%CI]=1.59 [1.02;2.47] had a larger share of organic foods and those living around the city of Montpellier (OR vs. living in the city centre [95%CI]=0.44[0.24;0.81]) had a smaller share. Our findings highlight that sociodemographic factors relate to sustainability dimensions in different ways. In addition, we address organic food purchases, which provide insights into different aspects of sustainability. Taken together, the findings suggest that there are various levers for promoting healthy and sustainable diets at the consumer leve

Habitat loss and degradation due to global agriculture land use is a major threat to biodiversity. Identifying agricultural management practices that mitigate these impacts is urgently needed. Thousands of experiments have been conducted worldwide in the last decades to compare the impacts of various agricultural management practices on biodiversity. The magnitudes of difference in biodiversity responses between pairs of agricultural practices, i.e. effect sizes, have now been synthesised in a growing number of meta-analyses. Yet, each meta-analysis generally focuses on a specific type of farming practice and on specific taxonomic groups, or a single region. Meta-analyses could furthermore yield different or sometimes opposite results for the similar research questions. Gathering all the effect sizes in one single dataset helps to critically assess and weigh the available evidence across all studied practices, taxonomic groups and geographical areas, and provide stakeholders a solid base to better inform their decisions. Here, we present a comprehensive dataset of 200 published meta-analyses gathering 1885 effect sizes based on more than 14 000 primary studies. We detail the effect of 8 main individual field practices (e.g. pest and disease management, amendment and fertilisation), 3 agricultural systems (e.g. organic farming, conservation agriculture) and 2 landscape level interventions (i.e. landscape complexity, land-use change). Our dataset covers numerous taxonomic groups over 14 phyla, including animals (e.g. birds, insects), microorganisms (e.g. fungi, bacteria), plants (e.g. trees, weeds). The dataset presented provides a resource to support decision-makers, farmers, and conservation ecologists alike for managing agricultural land for biodiversity.

This book presents Urbal, an approach that applies impact pathway mapping to understand how food system innovations in cities, and their territories, change and impact food system sustainability. Around the world, people are finding innovative ways to make their food systems more sustainable. However, documenting and understanding how these innovations impact the sustainability of food system can be a challenge. The Urban Driven Innovations for Sustainable Food Systems (Urbal) methodology responds to these constraints by providing innovations with a simple, open-source, resource-efficient tool that is easily appropriated and adaptable to different contexts. Urbal is designed to respond to the demands of field stakeholders, whether public or private, to accompany and guide them in their actions and decision-making with regard to sustainability objectives. This book presents this qualitative and participatory impact assessment method of food innovations and applies it to several cases of food innovation around the world, including the impact of agricultural districts in Milan, chefs and gastronomy in Brasilia, e-commerce in Vietnam, eco-friendly farm systems in Berlin and the Nourish to Flourish governance process in Cape Town. The book demonstrates how food innovations can impact different dimensions of sustainability, positively and negatively, and identify the elements that facilitate or hinder these impacts. The volume reflects on how to strengthen the capacity of these stakeholders to disseminate their innovations on other scales to contribute to the transition towards more sustainable food systems. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working on sustainable food systems, urban food, food innovation and impact assessment, as well as policymakers, practitioners and funders interested in these areas.

Le développement de projets d'aménagement (routes, mines, etc.) participe à l'érosion mondiale de la biodiversité. Dans ce contexte, la compensation écologique est adoptée pour pallier ces impacts et concilier développement économique et préservation de la biodiversité. Cependant, elle peine à inclure les services écosystémiques, malgré leur importance pour le bien-être, voire la survie de certaines populations impactées. Leur intégration n'est pas toujours compatible avec les approches actuelles de la compensation pour la biodiversité. Ainsi, l'objectif de nos travaux de thèse est de développer un cadre méthodologique pour l'intégration appropriée des services écosystémiques dans la compensation écologique. A partir de la littérature existante, nous avons construit une méthodologie en quatre étapes. Nous l'avons testée dans une zone aride d'Asie Centrale, le district de Sozak au Kazakhstan, où l'entreprise minière uranifère française Orano est implantée, et où la compensation écologique est réalisée par plantations forestières d'Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) Bunge et Haloxylon persicum (C.A Mey) Bunge. A travers ce cas d'étude, nous avons (i) identifié les services écosystémiques importants pour les acteurs locaux, selon une échelle paysagère. Ainsi, nous avons déterminé les services potentiellement impactés par les activités minière. Dès lors, nous avons élaboré des pratiques de compensation basées sur leur fourniture, et les avons (ii) évaluées sous le prisme de l'acceptabilité sociale. Nous avons notamment montré que les services écosystémiques attendus à travers la compensation différaient des services potentiellement impactés par les activités minières. Par la suite, nous avons (iii) évalué les relations entre la végétation naturelle du district et les services écosystémiques d'intérêt, à partir d'indicateurs biophysiques, afin de nous en inspirer pour la compensation des services écosystémiques. Nos résultats suggèrent que seule la strate arbustive affecte

Cet article propose une présentation structurée de travaux récents et en cours de quatre jeunes chercheuses sur le thème de la sécheresse édaphique en forêt en France métropolitaine, un phénomène qui devient de plus en plus fréquent et/ou intense perturbant le bon fonctionnement de ces écosystèmes. La gestion d'une crise sans précédent induite par des sécheresses récentes passe tout d'abord par la quantification et la cartographie de cet aléa, puis par l'évaluation et la compréhension des impacts induits par ce déficit hydrique sur la croissance primaire et secondaire des arbres. Enfin, diverses stratégies d'adaptation peuvent alors être mises en place afin de réduire la vulnérabilité des peuplements, en fonction des enjeux exposés (production de bois, séquestration de carbone) et de la gravité de ces impacts. Ces stratégies peuvent être ou non rentables pour le propriétaire forestier.

With an ever-increasing human population, food security remains a central issue for the coming years. The magnitude of the environmental impacts of food production has motivated the assessment of the environmental and health benefits of shifting diets, from meat to fish and seafood. One of the main concerns for the sustainable development of aquaculture is the emergence and spread of infectious animal diseases in a warming climate. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the influence of global warming on mortality due to viral infections in farmed aquatic animals. We found a positive trend between increasing temperature and increasing viral virulence, with an increase in water temperature of 1 °C resulting in an increase in mortality of 1.47–8.33% in OsHV-1 infected oysters, 2.55–6.98% in carps infected with CyHV-3 and 2.18–5.37% in fishes infected with NVVs. We suggest that global warming is going to pose a risk of viral disease outbreaks in aquaculture and could compromise global food security.

L'évaluation intégrée des filières agricoles par des analyses économiques, sociales et environnementales a pour finalité de fournir les informations nécessaires et suffisantes pour orienter ou appuyer les décisions d'investissement dans le cadre d'un développement durable. Ces évaluations s'appuient d'une part sur des collectes de données et des analyses sur l'organisation de ces filières et, d'autre part, sur la stratégie de leurs acteurs. L'accès aux informations, leur fiabilité, ainsi que le contexte général dans lequel ces filières évoluent sont des dimensions essentielles. Le contexte peut rendre difficiles les décisions d'investir et la mise en oeuvre de politiques sectorielles agricoles. En effet, investir nécessite une confiance en l'avenir car cela implique un endettement, donc une prise de risque et une responsabilité. Afin d'atténuer ce risque, l'investisseur a besoin d'informations et doit pouvoir y accéder. Dans les pays à faible revenu, les difficultés à appliquer des textes réglementaires et l'absence d'informations fiables compliquent le développement de chaînes de valeur agricoles durables, ainsi que les démarches pour les évaluer. Nous montrons comment les chaînes de valeur de la mangue au Burkina Faso sont concernées.

The integrated assessment of agricultural value chains through economic, social and environmental analyses is aimed at providing the necessary and sufficient information to guide or support investment decisions in the context of sustainable development. These assessments are based on data collection and analyses of the organisation of these value chains, as well as on their stakeholders' strategies. Access to information, the reliability of this information, and the general context in which these value chains evolve are key dimensions. The context can be an obstacle to investment decisions and the implementation of sectoral agricultural policies. Indeed, investing requires confidence in the future, since it implies debt, and therefore risk-taking and accountability. In order to mitigate this risk, investors require information and must be able to access it. In low-income countries, difficulties in applying regulatory texts and the lack of reliable information hamper the development of sustainable agricultural value chains, as well as the processes to assess them. We show how mango value chains in Burkina Faso are concerned.

Introduction: Cocoa is one of the main crops grown in Ecuador. The agricultural area dedicated to cocoa represents the largest area dedicated to a permanent crop the country. Dry bean production has grown at an average annual rate of 15% since 2014, mainly due to yield improvements and replacement of other crops. Several varieties of cocoa are grown, but production is dominated by two main varieties: “Cacao Fino y de Aroma” and clonal varieties (dominated by CCN-51). Cocoa, mainly in monocrop systems, is mainly produced on the Ecuadorian Coast (but also in the Highlands and Amazonia). This study presents a statistics-based LCA of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain. Material and methods: LCIs representing the various types of systems in each link of the value chain—i.e. the various types of farming systems, processing and distribution—were constructed in terms of representative production units. Sub-chains centred on different cocoa varieties and value-adding strategies were identified. Primary and secondary data were collected for the most representative system types, as defined in the actor typologies. Primary data were obtained via field visits and surveys, while secondary data were obtained mainly from statistical datasets of the National Institute of Statistics and Census. Impacts were computed following the European Commission's Product Environmental Footprint, while soil carbon turnover was modelled using RothC. Results and discussion: Identified types of producers are subsistence and entrepreneurial small, medium, and large. Two post-harvest strategies were modelled: a volume-oriented one and a quality-oriented one. The main sub-chains identified are the volume/commodity-oriented one (which is dominantly based on cocoa which either does not undergo post-harvest, or which undergoes volume-oriented post-harvest activities) and the quality-oriented one. Across producer types, irrigation and negative direct field emissions are the most important factors, followed i

Orange rust caused by Puccinia kuehnii is a major emerging disease in many sugarcane-producing countries. Breeding for resistant varieties is the main strategy for controlling orange rust. The rapid spread of this disease in recently contaminated sugarcane industries offers the opportunity to use on-going breeding trials to investigate the effect of orange rust on yield traits and gauge levels of resistance required to minimize losses. Orange rust was first observed in 2018 in Reunion. This study reports the effects of the disease on cane yield (CY), recoverable sugar (RS), fiber content (FIB) and economic index (EI) in five environments of Reunion's sugarcane breeding program located in diverse agro-climatic zones. Disease resistance assessed under natural infection had high broad-sense heritability (0.76–0.91) in multi-environment analyses. Mean infection levels differed between locations congruently with location differences for two influential climatic parameters (humidity and temperature). Maximum potential yield losses (YLmax) associated with orange rust were estimated using regression analyses of yield traits versus disease susceptibility. YLmax for CY and EI varied between environments and reached up to 26.0% and 24.2% respectively, in one of the most humid environments. RS was either unaffected or only slightly increased by the disease. In contrast, FIB was always reduced by the disease (YLmax≤6.5%). Multi-environment analyses of yield traits of varieties common to all five environments gave insights into the impact of orange rust on the yielding ability of these varieties across all environments. All these data provide food for thoughts to efficient breeding strategies for varietal resistance to orange rust.

Biodiversity offsets aim to compensate the negative residual impacts of development projects on biodiversity, including ecosystem functions, uses by people and cultural values. Conceptually, ecosystem services (ES) should be considered, but in practice this integration rarely occurs. Their consideration would improve the societal impact of biodiversity offsets. However, the prioritisation of ES in a given area is still limited. We developed a framework for this purpose, applied in rangelands landscapes in Kazakhstan, in the context of uranium mining. We assumed that different landscapes provide different ES, and that stakeholders perceive ES according to their category (e.g., elders and herders) and gender. We performed qualitative, semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders. Using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services, we identified 300 ES in 31 classes across 8 landscape units. We produced a systemic representation of the provision of ES across the landscapes. We showed a significant link between ES and landscape units, but not between ES and stakeholder categories or gender. Stakeholders mostly identified ES according to the location of their villages. Therefore, we suggest that the biodiversity offsets should target ES provided by the landscape unit where mining activities occur and would be most interesting in the landscapes common to all villages. By performing a systemic representation, potential impacts of some offset strategies can be predicted. The framework was therefore effective in determining a bundle of ES at a landscape scale, and in prioritising them for future biodiversity offset plans.

Rainfed agriculture is at the centre of many West African economies and a key livelihood strategy in the region. Highly variable rainfall patterns lead to a situation in which farmers' investments to increase productivity are very risky and will become more risky with climate change. Process-based cropping system models are a key tool to assess the impact of weather variability and climate change, as well as the effect of crop management options on crop yields, soil fertility and farming system resilience and widely used by the West African scientific community. Challenges to use are related to their consideration of the prevailing systems and conditions of West African farms, as well as limited data availability for calibration. We outline here a number of factors need to be considered if they are to contribute to the scientific basis underlying transformation of farming systems towards sustainability. These include: capacity building, improved models, FAIR data, research partnerships and using models in co-development settings.

Background: The adoption of innovative cropping systems with low pesticide inputs would reduce environmental degradation and dependency on the use of plant protection products. Evaluating the pesticide risk to human health is a growing concern in the assessment of the sustainability of cropping practices. The assessment of human health risks linked to pesticide use in either conventional or innovative cropping systems is poorly documented in the literature. Objectives: This study focused on the assessment of pesticide exposure and human health risks from pesticide use in arable cropping systems (two monoculture and one intercropping system) associated with the use of various tillage practices (conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no tillage). Methods: Human exposure (operators and residents) and health risks from pesticide use were assessed and compared between three conventional and six innovative cropping systems. We used the previously published BROWSE (Bystanders, Residents, Operators, and WorkerS Exposure) model based on data collected from interviews with the farmers and expert knowledge to compare the human health risk from pesticide use in the Setif area. Environmental conditions and the physical characteristics of the farmers were collected on three different farms from 2019 to 2021. Results: The modelling results demonstrate that human exposure to pesticides was systematically high under conservation tillage (no or reduced tillage) and monoculture cropping (pea and barley) conditions. It was also confirmed that operators experienced the highest cumulated exposure to pesticides (56 mg kg−1 bw day−1), followed by resident children seven days after pesticide application (0.66 mg kg−1 bw day−1). BROWSE simulations showed that dermal absorption was the most dominant route and represented more than 98% of the total amount of pesticides applied in all cropping × tillage system combinations. Regarding the overall results of the simulated human health risk, b

Sustainability and functioning of silvopastoral ecosystems are being threatened by the forecasted warmer and drier environments in the Mediterranean region. Scattered trees of these ecosystems could potentially mitigate the impact of climate change on herbaceous plant community but this issue has not yet tested experimentally. We carried out a field manipulative experiment of increased temperature (+2–3 °C) using Open Top Chambers and rainfall reduction (30%) through rain-exclusion shelters to evaluate how net primary productivity and digestibility respond to climate change over three consecutive years, and to test whether scattered trees could buffer the effects of higher aridity in Mediterranean dehesas. First, we observed that herbaceous communities located beneath tree canopy were less productive (351 g/m2) than in open grassland (493 g/m2) but had a higher digestibility (44% and 41%, respectively), likely promoted by tree shade and the higher soil fertility of this habitat. Second, both habitats responded similarly to climate change in terms of net primary productivity, with a 33% increase under warming and a 13% decrease under reduced rainfall. In contrast, biomass digestibility decreased under increased temperatures (−7.5%), since warming enhanced the fiber and lignin content and decreased the crude protein content of aerial biomass. This warming-induced effect on biomass digestibility only occurred in open grasslands, suggesting a buffering role of trees in mitigating the impact of climate change. Third, warming did not only affect these ecosystem processes in a direct way but also indirectly via changes in plant functional composition. Our findings suggest that climate change will alter both the quantity and quality of pasture production, with expected warmer conditions increasing net primary productivity but at the expense of reducing digestibility. This negative effect of warming on digestibility might be mitigated by scattered trees, highlighting the imp

A major programme of irrigated rice extension in the Middle Senegal River Valley has further limited the river's natural flooding in the floodplain (Waalo), initially reduced by drought. We conducted a transdisciplinary (TD) and gendered study in the region to explore links between agricultural biodiversity and family diets using a social analysis of women's practices. The results showed how rice expansion impacts local agrobiodiversity, diet quality and the cultural way of life. Disappearance of the singular agropastoral and fishing system of the Senegal River Valley is profoundly modifying the landscape, limiting wooded riverine settings, and is undermining the traditional diversified flood-recession cropping system in the Waalo. This is causing an overconsumption of rice by reducing alternative food sources, such as sorghum, vegetables and animal products (fish, milk and meat). In particular, flood-recession sorghums are in danger of disappearing, yet they are more nutritious than rice and now sell for twice as much, or more. The way of life is being disrupted, notably sociabilities previously based on territorial complementarities, and women are disadvantaged in terms of recognition and added workload. Women's groups have launched collective irrigated gardens, organic or not, only supported by the local NGO, but any surplus is hardly ever sold on the weekly markets in the neighbourhood. Moreover, this diet imbalance increases nutritional risk factors for health, such as vitamin and iron deficiencies, especially for women, hypertension and diabetes. We argue that, firstly, gendered TD experiences are relevant for documenting women's activities in order for them to gain political support and, secondly, that targeting women's care tasks gives more value and impact to TD research results.

Natural rubber consumption has led to the expansion of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations which affects the deforestation and ecosystem. However, no study of the long-term effect of rubber plantations on soil biodiversity has been carried out yet. This study aimed to assess the long-term impact of continuous rubber monocropping on soil biodiversity, focusing on soil macrofauna and nematode diversity. Three successive rubber rotations at young and old ages were compared with the adjacent forest in Suratthani province, Thailand. Soil biodiversity quality index was calculated from a set of indicators which were combined into a single score to present a functional assessment of the gradient of disturbance. The results showed three negative effects on soil biodiversity (i) the biodiversity quality index immediately declined after deforestation (ii) the old age rubber plantations had a lower soil biodiversity as the nematodes were a main driver of diversity in the young plantation, and (iii) similarly, for the soil chemical properties, the long-term effect of rubber chronosequence evidenced deterioration in the third rotation. Therefore, two rotations of rubber plantation (around 50 years) seemed to be the maximum length of rubber monocropping in terms of soil biodiversity recovery.

Purpose. Current field emission modelling and toxicity characterisation of pesticides suffer from several shortcomings like mismatches between LCI databases and LCIA methods, missing characterisation factors, missing environmental compartments, and environmental impact pathways. The OLCA-Pest project was implemented to address these aspects and to operationalise the assessment of pesticides in LCA. Based on this effort, we propose an approach to integrate pesticide emissions into LCI databases. Methods. The PestLCI Consensus Model has been developed in order to estimate emission fractions to different environmental compartments. The initial distribution fractions should be linked to the compartments air, agricultural soil, natural soil, and freshwater. Emissions to off-field surfaces are hereby distributed between agricultural soil, natural soil, and freshwater by using surface cover data. Deposition on the crop surface should be recorded in an emission compartment crop with 13 sub-compartments for crop archetypes for both food and non-food uses. Default emission fractions are provided to calculate the emission fractions for different pesticide application scenarios. Results and discussion. A sensitivity analysis shows the effects of the application technique, drift reduction, crop and development stage, field width, and buffer zone on the initial distribution fractions of field-applied pesticides. Recommendations are given for the implementation of a set of default initial distribution fractions into LCI databases, for the organisation of metadata, and for the modelling of pesticide residues in food along the supply chain (processing, storage). Priorities for further research are: improving the modelling of pesticide secondary emissions, further extending emission modeling (e.g. additional application techniques, including cover crops), considering metal-based pesticides in emission models, and systematically assessing human health impacts associated with pesticide

The epidemic of COVID-19 has shown different developments in Africa compared to the other continents. Three different approaches were used in this study to analyze this situation. In the first part, basic statistics were performed to estimate the contribution of the elderly people to the total numbers of cases and deaths in comparison to the other continents; Similarly, the health systems capacities were analysed to assess the level of underreporting. In the second part, differential equations were reconstructed from the epidemiological time series of cases and deaths (from the John Hopkins University) to analyse the dynamics of COVID-19 in seventeen countries. In the third part, the time evolution of the contact number was reconstructed since the beginning of the outbreak to investigate the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies. Results were compared to the Oxford stringency index and to the mobility indices of the Google Community Mobility Reports. Compared to Europe, the analyses show that the lower proportion of elderly people in Africa enables to explain the lower total numbers of cases and deaths by a factor of 5.1 on average (from 1.9 to 7.8). It corresponds to a genuine effect. Nevertheless, COVID-19 numbers are effectively largely underestimated in Africa by a factor of 8.5 on average (from 1.7 to 20. and more) due to the weakness of the health systems at country level. Geographically, the models obtained for the dynamics of cases and deaths reveal very diversified dynamics. The dynamics is chaotic in many contexts, including a situation of bistability rarely observed in dynamical systems. Finally, the contact number directly deduced from the epidemiological observations reveals an effective role of the mitigation strategies on the short term. On the long term, control measures have contributed to maintain the epidemic at a low level although the progressive release of the stringency did not produce a clear increase of the contact number. The arrival o