Search

This document is a deliverable of the BioAgora project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 101059438. The Science Service aims to ratchet up the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (BDS 2030) by orchestrating science-policy interactions within the EU which can link scientific knowledge more efficiently with policy making and implementation. A preliminary requirement to this is the in-depth understanding of the challenges and barriers that might hinder the implementation of the BDS 2030. This deliverable includes an evidence-based analysis and categorization of such challenges and offers a list of selection criteria that can be used by the BioAgora project for identifying the most relevant demonstration cases., This deliverable was produced with contributions from Mihai Cristian Adamescu (UNIBUC), Alessia Chelli (UNITN) Dalia D'Amato-Philman (SYKE), Jiska van Dijk (NINA), Myriam Dumortier (INBO), Davide Geneletti (UNITN), Frederic Gosselin (INRAE), Sonja Jähnig (IGB), Kinga Krauze (ERCE), Sandra Luque (INRAE) Nikita Sharma (ECSA), Marie Vandewalle (UFZ), Marion Vinot-Gosselin (INRAE), Juliette Young (INRAE), Ágnes Zólyomi (UNEP-WCMC)

These documents correspond to Chapter 1 of the IPBES methodological assessment of the diverse values and valuation of nature and its supplementary material., Suggested citation: Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., Lliso, B., Monroy, A.S., Guibrunet, L., Anderson, C.B., Athayde, S., Barton, D.N., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Jacobs, S., Kelemen, E., Kumar, R., Lazos, E., Martin, A., Mwampamba, T.H., Nakangu, B., O'Farrell, P., Raymond, C.M., Subramanian, S.M., Termansen, M., Van Noordwijk, M., Vatn, A., Contreras, V., and González-Jiménez, D. (2022). Chapter 1: The role of the values of nature and valuation for addressing the biodiversity crisis and navigating towards more just and sustainable futures. In: Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. P. Balvanera, U. Pascual, C. Michael, B. Baptiste, and D. González-Jiménez (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6418971

The food- and feed-value systems in the European Union are not protein self-sufficient. Despite the potential of legume-supported production systems to reduce the externalities caused by current cultivation practices (excessive use of N fertilizer) and improve the sustainability of the arable cropping systems and the quality of human diets, sufficient production of high-protein legume grains in Europe has not been achieved due to multiple barriers. Identifying the barriers to the production and consumption of legumes is the first step in realizing new pathways towards more sustainable food systems of which legumes are integral part. In this study, we engage stakeholders and decision-makers in a structured communication process, the Delphi method, to identify policy interventions leveraging barriers that hinder the production and consumption of legumes in the EU. This study is one of a kind and uses a systematic method to reach a common understanding of the policy incoherencies across sectors. Through this method we identify policy interventions that may promote the production of legumes and the creation of legume-based products in the EU. Policies that encourage reduced use of inorganic N fertilizer represent an important step toward a shift in the increased cultivation of legumes. Relatedly, investment in R&amp, D, extension services, and knowledge transfer is necessary to support a smooth transition from the heavy use of synthetic N fertilizer in conventional agriculture. These policy interventions are discussed within current EU and national plant-protein strategies.

The pressing need for the radical transformation towards more sustainable agricultural and food systems, which only recently gained substantially more acknowledgement, staged several underutilised crops in new roles. Legumes have become the primary focus of research and analytical attention first in agroecology, and lately in international policy communities and the social sciences. With their effortless talent to fix nitrogen into the soil, substitute animal protein, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, legumes are now recognised as forgotten stars, that could help both agriculture and the food industry become more ecological. However, legume production and consumption, albeit multiple advantages, remain still marginal in Europe for several reasons. This article adopts an interpretative policy framework to address the legume paradox, that is our legume-dependent agri-food systems relying on imports and simultaneously maintaining deficient production and consumption of legumes. We reviewed the state of the art of legume-based food systems in Hungary by analysing conceptual frameworks and data from exploratory mixed-method research. In a case study research, we analysed the root causes of this state-of-the-art through mapping the understanding of challenges and potentialities of legume value chains in Hungary by critical stakeholders. Our primary research question is what is at play behind and how Hungarian stakeholders make meaning of this paradox. We also explore how the current trends could still open pathways for more legumes in production and consumption. Drawing on insights from the literature and stakeholder interviews in Hungary, we show an extremely locked-in agri-food system. Our results indicate that especially small scale producers face difficulties to tackle with shallow yield stability of legumes. Their struggle is further aggravated by the dumping of cheap import of plant-based protein food and feed and inorganic nitrogen fertilisers, virtually absent small-scale processing, consumers' unawareness of legumes' benefits and preoccupation with their gut discomfort and food services' unwillingness to experiment with tasty plant-based protein food. We suggest several future research topics and pathways to promote more sustainable legume-based food systems. In conclusion, we argue that any transition towards legume-based food and feed systems would initially require the mutual engagement of multiple stakeholders in the value chains, strong policy support orchestrated by public institutions., The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Vol. 27 No. 1 (2021): Special Issue

This Deliverable presents our final policy evaluation report giving, ‘An overview and classification of European and international policies to support legume-based systems’. This key output was developed to deliver four policy briefs - to help build positive, proactive policies to support the realisation of more sustainable legume-based systems.

18-1802-152800-CSD UIDB/04085/2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic and unprecedented impacts on both global health and economies. Many governments are now proposing recovery packages to get back to normal, but the 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Global Assessment indicated that business as usual has created widespread ecosystem degradation. Therefore, a post-COVID world needs to tackle the economic drivers that create ecological disruptions. In this perspective, we discuss a number of tools across a range of actors for both short-term stimulus measures and longer-term revamping of global, national, and local economies that take biodiversity into account. These include measures to shift away from activities that damage biodiversity and toward those supporting ecosystem resilience, including through incentives, regulations, fiscal policy, and employment programs. By treating the crisis as an opportunity to reset the global economy, we have a chance to reverse decades of biodiversity and ecosystem losses. publishersversion published

This plan formalises specific operations (meetings and agendas), at Work Package (WP) and sub-WP level for the following 12 months. The output will be formalised via the private workspace, and associated project management software. The plan will identify and facilitate the necessary Coordination to help ensure the timely delivery and success of linked project activities and meetings or workshops. This plan will also help inform the framework of the Data Management Plan.&nbsp

The series of decision models produced in this Deliverable (D8.2) will be integrated into a model for the assessment of overall sustainability of legume systems, with respect to the identification of key legume-based system indicators for the three pillars of sustainability. The decision model will be then used for evaluation of the relative sustainability of transition pathways to more effective scenarios.&nbsp

Impact Plan: this Deliverable report (D9.8, D56) is directed by feedback from TRUE’s Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB, the commercial partners), and also from other multi-actors engaged via the ISAB (Intercontinental Science Advisory Board), and including operatives of the European Legume Innovation Network (or ‘E-LIN’) workshops, existing relevant H2020 research projects, and successful RUR (rural renaissance) projects. This direction will help ensure research complementarity, synergy and science excellence. The aim of this report is to define the best routes to impact. &nbsp

This Deliverable describes the Project Legacy Plan (version I) of the TRUE-Project. It formally details how the various products developed from TRUE-Project activities will be manged and coordinated to ensure project impact legacy beyond the funded project term. To improve this aim the bulk of this document present a highly detailed series of vignettes that capture a wide range of perspectives from the exercise of, 'considering legumes in context'. Going forward, the TRUE-Project’s implementation plans will be developed based on these insights. Also, delivered collectively, they are expected to encourage transition from current conventional food- and feed-networks, to those which are legume-based and more sustainable.

First paragraph: The Sustainable Development Goals and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity cannot be achieved without transformative change, the conditions for which can be put in place now (well established) {6.2; chapters 2, 3, 5}. In the short term (before 2030), all decision makers can contribute to the sustainability transformation, including through the rapid and improved deployment of existing policy instruments and new initiatives that more effectively enlist individual and collective action for transformative change, and the reform and removal of harmful existing policies and subsidies (well established). Additional measures are necessary to enable transformative change in the long term (up to 2050) to address the indirect drivers that are the root causes of nature deterioration (well established), including changes in social, economic and technological structures within and across nations {6.2, 6.3, 6.4}.

This Deliverable presents the result from the application of a policy Delphi and highlights how experts assess the potential of governance contexts that may favour therealisation of legume-supportedvalue chains.

This document containsChapter 6 of the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.&nbsp