Assessing sustainability in agricultural landscapes: a review of approaches1,2

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Eichler Inwood ◽  
Santiago López-Ridaura ◽  
Keith L. Kline ◽  
Bruno Gérard ◽  
Andrea Gardeazabal Monsalue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Farm System ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Research and development agencies, as well as policy makers and agri-food enterprises, need reliable data to support informed decisions that can improve the sustainability of agricultural landscapes. We present a review of agricultural sustainability assessment frameworks (ASAF) that identifies the features most relevant to monitoring progress towards sustainability goals for agricultural landscapes. This qualitative review considers a variety of approaches for defining goals and for selecting stakeholders, spatial and temporal boundaries, indicators, and analytical approaches. We focused on assessment frameworks that (i) include environmental, social, and economic implications of agriculture; (ii) are applicable to multiple, non-specified farm system types; (iii) are described in an English language, peer-reviewed publication; (iv) have been developed for use at a farm system to regional spatial scale; (v) engage stakeholders; (vi) provide case studies; and (vii) could be used in a variety of contexts across the globe. Based on the review, we provide recommendations for further development and use of assessment frameworks to better address the needs of agricultural research, extension, and development organizations. We recommend an agro-ecosystem approach to help stakeholders identify appropriate indicators for their situation. Assessment methods need to be flexible enough for adaptation to a spectrum of agricultural landscapes and changing environmental conditions, and remain relevant as farmers and other stakeholders acquire new information, resources, and different management techniques. We find that to address information gaps across different scales from farm to region will require creativity and some reliance on local knowledge systems to support adaptive management. Assessment results should communicate relationships among ecosystem services and socio-economic activities affected by agricultural landscapes. Visualization tools can facilitate understanding of trade-offs and synergies among sustainability goals as reflected by individual indicators.

scholarly journals Collaborating constructively for sustainable biotechnology

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Matthews ◽  
Carrie A. Cizauskas ◽  
Donovan S. Layton ◽  
Laurence Stamford ◽  
Philip Shapira
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Analytical Approaches

AbstractTackling the pressing sustainability needs of society will require the development and application of new technologies. Biotechnology, emboldened by recent advances in synthetic biology, offers to generate sustainable biologically-based routes to chemicals and materials as alternatives to fossil-derived incumbents. Yet, the sustainability potential of biotechnology is not without trade-offs. Here, we probe this capacity for sustainability for the case of bio-based nylon using both deliberative and analytical approaches within a framework of Constructive Sustainability Assessment. We highlight the potential for life cycle CO2 and N2O savings with bio-based processes, but report mixed results in other environmental and social impact categories. Importantly, we demonstrate how this knowledge can be generated collaboratively and constructively within companies at an early stage to anticipate consequences and to inform the modification of designs and applications. Application of the approach demonstrated here provides an avenue for technological actors to better understand and become responsive to the sustainability implications of their products, systems and actions.

scholarly journals Accounting for Regional Heterogeneity of Agricultural Sustainability in Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir Mili ◽  
Javier Martínez-Vega
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Agricultural Sustainability ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Policy Coherence ◽  
Regional Variability

Agriculture is increasingly facing major challenges such as climate change, scarcity of natural resources and changing societal demands. To tackle these challenges there is a pressing need to evolve towards more sustainable agricultural practices. As a result, sustainability stands among the most relevant topics in agricultural research worldwide, and Spain is no exception. Agricultural sustainability has been analysed in Spain mainly at a national and farm scale. This contribution aims at assessing agricultural sustainability in Spain at a provincial scale, allowing the scrutiny of regional variability induced by the existing differences in extension, relevance and policies of the agricultural activity at this level. The sustainability assessment performed is based on a selection of twenty-two indicators covering the three classical dimensions of sustainability—environmental, economic and social. The methodology implemented is based on normalising and aggregating selected indicators according to three composite indicators for the fifty Spanish provinces. Numerous statistical and cartographic sources are used. Cluster analysis establishes four different groups of provinces according to their performance in terms of agricultural sustainability. Higher economic sustainability in provincial agriculture seems to be mostly associated with more intensive use of agricultural labour and agricultural machinery and faster wealth growth. Social sustainability seems to be linked to greater diversification of economic activities and to quality productions under Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI). Best environmental sustainability is achieved where extension of agricultural land is larger, less agricultural area is burned, and carbon stock and sequestration by agricultural ecosystems is better. It is expected that the results could improve the policy coherence and decision-making for more sustainable agricultural systems in Spanish regions.

MANAGEMENT AND SPATIAL PLANNING IN THE COASTAL ZONE OF THE CHEBOKSARY RESERVOIR

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inna Nikonorova ◽  
Inna Nikonorova
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Cheboksary Reservoir ◽  
Functional Zoning ◽  
Area Of Influence ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Special Protection Areas ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

Cheboksary reservoir impact to the coast is manifested in the geophysical impact associated with abrasion activities. Geomorphological area of influence at the moment reaches a width of about 40 m, where are the coasts reformation (erosion, collapse, slumping, sliding, transfer or accumulation of sediments, waterlogged processes). Hydrogeological impact is effect on the level of groundwater. We have proposed the conceptual foundations of functional zoning of the reservoir banks that will help to optimize its operation. Selection zones came in accordance with the principles of landscape planning: 1. The zone of strict water protection: the main purpose – preservation of needing special protection areas. 2. The zone of moderate restrictions: preservation extensively used landscapes. 3. The zone of partial restrictions: improving the pre-emptive particularly vulnerable areas and changing intensity or type of use. 4. The zone of conservation of natural components in agricultural landscapes: ensuring health of the natural environment in the habitats used in agricultural economy. 5. The zone of preservation of vacant space and the natural environment in the settlements: to maintain the required quantity and quality of available green space in the large towns. 6. The zone of improving heavily used areas: elimination of harmful stress and environmental sanitation in the countryside where economic activities and the lack of measures to reduce their risks lead to degradation natural system.

scholarly journals Why Protect Ancient Woodland in the UK? Rethinking the Ecosystem Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Jona Razzaque ◽  
Claire Lester
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Ancient Woodland ◽  
Forestry Practices ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Sites of ancient woodland in the United Kingdom (UK) are diminishing rapidly and the multifunctional forest management system with its fragmented approach fails effectively to protect such woodland. In the face of reports on the destruction of ancient woodland, the HS2 High-Speed train project in the UK signifies the extent of trade-offs among the key stakeholders. Such large infrastructure projects typically come with high environmental and social costs, including deforestation, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and social disruption. This article examines the protection of ancient woodland in the UK and assesses the challenges in applying the ecosystem approach, an internationally recognized sustainability strategy, in the context of such protection. A better understanding of the ecosystem approach to manage ancient woodland is critical for promoting sustainable forestry practices in the UK and informs the discussion in this article of the importance of conserving ancient woodland globally. Lessons learned from UK woodland policies and certification schemes include the need to have in place strong regulatory frameworks, introduce clear indicators, and recognize pluralistic value systems alongside economic considerations. The article concludes that the protection of ancient woodland in the UK requires distinct and strong laws that reflect multiple values of this resource, acknowledge the trade-offs among stakeholders, and adopt an inclusive approach to reduce power asymmetries.

Analysis of financial and economic activities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Gerasimova
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Vocational Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Independent Solution ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Secondary Vocational Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
State Educational ◽  
Analytical Approaches

The textbook comprehensively describes the basics of the theory of economic analysis and the practice of applying analytical approaches to economic entities of various types. It consists of three interrelated sections that reveal a comprehensive and systematic approach to conducting economic analysis. The practical part of the textbook includes exercises, examples of solving situational problems and tasks for independent solution. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of secondary vocational education of the latest generation. For students of secondary vocational education institutions studying in the specialty 38.02.07 "Banking". It can be useful for undergraduate students studying in the areas of 38.03.01 " Economics "and 38.03.02" Management", specialists in the field of analysis of the activities of organizations, a wide range of readers interested in the problems of analysis of the activities of economic entities.

scholarly journals Detecting Cover Crop End-Of-Season Using VENµS and Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3524
Author(s):  
Feng Gao ◽  
Martha C. Anderson ◽  
W. Dean Hively
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Cover Crops ◽  
Cover Crop ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Absolute Difference ◽  
Sentinel 2

Cover crops are planted during the off-season to protect the soil and improve watershed management. The ability to map cover crop termination dates over agricultural landscapes is essential for quantifying conservation practice implementation, and enabling estimation of biomass accumulation during the active cover period. Remote sensing detection of end-of-season (termination) for cover crops has been limited by the lack of high spatial and temporal resolution observations and methods. In this paper, a new within-season termination (WIST) algorithm was developed to map cover crop termination dates using the Vegetation and Environment monitoring New Micro Satellite (VENµS) imagery (5 m, 2 days revisit). The WIST algorithm first detects the downward trend (senescent period) in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series and then refines the estimate to the two dates with the most rapid rate of decrease in NDVI during the senescent period. The WIST algorithm was assessed using farm operation records for experimental fields at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). The crop termination dates extracted from VENµS and Sentinel-2 time-series in 2019 and 2020 were compared to the recorded termination operation dates. The results show that the termination dates detected from the VENµS time-series (aggregated to 10 m) agree with the recorded harvest dates with a mean absolute difference of 2 days and uncertainty of 4 days. The operational Sentinel-2 time-series (10 m, 4–5 days revisit) also detected termination dates at BARC but had 7% missing and 10% false detections due to less frequent temporal observations. Near-real-time simulation using the VENµS time-series shows that the average lag times of termination detection are about 4 days for VENµS and 8 days for Sentinel-2, not including satellite data latency. The study demonstrates the potential for operational mapping of cover crop termination using high temporal and spatial resolution remote sensing data.

scholarly journals The Economics of Tipping

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-236
Author(s):  
Ofer H. Azar
Keyword(s):  
Social Norm ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Income Source ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Motivations ◽  
The Relationship

Tipping involves dozens of billions of dollars annually in the US alone and is a major income source for millions of workers. But beyond its economic importance and various economic implications, tipping is also a unique economic phenomenon in that people pay tips voluntarily without any legal obligation. Tipping demonstrates that psychological and social motivations can be a substantial reason for economic behavior, and that economic models should go beyond a selfish economic agent who has no feelings in order to capture the full range of economic activities. This article discusses some aspects of tipping, with an emphasis on economic issues: the history of tipping, the main reasons for tipping, why tipping could be a welfare-increasing and sustainable social norm, the relationship between tipping and service quality, how tipping represents a struggle over rents, and issues of discrimination and sexual harassment related to tipping.

scholarly journals Economics of abortion: a scoping review protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e029939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernestina Coast ◽  
Samantha R Lattof ◽  
Yana van der Meulen Rodgers ◽  
Brittany Moore
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Economic Outcomes ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Safe Abortion ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Abortion Care ◽  
Scoping Reviews ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Analytical Approaches

IntroductionAbortion is a common feature of people’s reproductive lives. However, the economic implications of abortion and policies affecting abortion provision are poorly understood. This scoping review aims to systematically review social science literature for studies that have investigated the impact of abortion care (ie, un/safe abortion, post-abortion care) or abortion policies on economic outcomes at the micro-levels (ie, abortion seekers and their households), meso-levels (ie, communities and health systems) and macro-levels (ie, societies and nation states). Informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline for protocols, this protocol details the scoping review’s methodological and analytical approaches.Methods and analysisThis scoping review will utilise the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) tool. Studies reporting on qualitative and/or quantitative data from any world region will be considered. For inclusion, studies must examine one of the following economic outcomes at the micro-levels, meso-levels and/or macro-levels: costs, benefits, impacts and/or value of abortion care or abortion policies. Searches will be conducted in eight electronic databases. We will conduct the searches and application of inclusion/exclusion criteria according to the PRISMA-ScR flow approach. No assessments of items’ quality will be made, as the purpose of this scoping review is to synthesise and describe the coverage of the evidence. After extracting all data, we will inductively develop an economic framework around the economics of abortion. The analysis will synthesise the evidence base and identify knowledge gaps on the costs and benefits of abortion to stakeholders at various levels.Ethics and disseminationFormal ethical approval is not required, as primary data will not be collected in this study. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and condensed summaries for key stakeholders and partners in the field.

scholarly journals Discussion: Economic Research Trade-Offs Between Equity and Efficiency

1973 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-15
Author(s):  
Luther Tweeten
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Equity And Efficiency ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
Publicly Supported ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Research Service

I applaud Quentin West for what he said in his paper and commend him for the directions he had outlined for the Economic Research Service. If there was a time when economists could ignore the equity dimension in their analysis, it is no more. The agricultural establishment, largely uncritical lovers of traditional agricultural research and education, and the young radicals, largely unloving critics exemplified by Hard Tomatoes -- Hard Times, hold very different images of who pays for and who benefits from publicly supported agricultural research and education. Differences will not be resolved without better information in the hands of both groups.It would be hard to quarrel with the thrust of ERS analysis reported by West for Tobacco and other programs. So I will deal with his shortcomings of omission rather than commission. Specifically, I will quantify the distribution of costs and benefits from agricultural research and education.

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