Building on some of Teja Tscharntke’s key papers we discuss a number of complexities of farming systems and agricultural landscapes that we believe should be included in future studies of production landscapes. We contend that transformation of modern agricultural landscapes to biodiversity-friendly ones needs a combination of farming on-field measures, land-use practices and landscape measures, but also policies supporting less intensive production. We argue that in future research, landscape ecologists should acknowledge the multiple values of biodiversity, and abandon using simple species richness indicators for those values. Ecologists should rather focus on understanding what species and their interactions are actually doing in production ecosystems. Some myths in landscape ecology, such as global food scarcity, land sparing, and intensive farming being the benchmark for sustainable food production, are rejected. We show that the global agricultural system is entrenched in a productivist narrative that hinders development of more sustainable production systems. In order to change current agricultural systems towards sustainable production and biodiversity-friendly landscapes, we need a broader perspective that incorporates knowledge and understanding of social-ecological systems and processes. We exemplify this with four future scenarios for Swedish food systems that in different ways are suggested to contribute to biodiversity goals, though perhaps not exactly via the biodiversity-friendly landscapes envisioned by Teja and many other ecologists.

There is an urgent need to rethink our global food systems. The world is facing a nutrition crisis, and the way we produce and consume food is altering the equilibrium of our planet, causing environmental damage and biodiversity loss, and climate change which further compromises food security. Children are disproportionately affected, and school meals are being increasingly recognized as a key investment for governments to tackle these challenges. Through national school meals programs, around 418 million children currently receive a meal at school every day. This provides an exceptional opportunity for the implementation planet-friendly policies which have enormous co-benefits for child health and the wider society. To explore these opportunities, this White Paper was prepared by The Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, an initiative of The School Meals Coalition (SMC), a multilateral coalition of 95+ countries aiming to improve and expand national school meal programs for all children. The White Paper, written in collaboration with 85 organizations worldwide, explains how implementing planet-friendly school meal programs can provide far reaching co-benefits for public health and human capital. The paper proposes that to maximize the transformative potential of school meal programs, governments should focus on two sets of policies. First, those that can create immediate benefits for children and the planet, including: adopting nutritious, diverse, whole foods menus; switching to clean, efficient and sustainable energy for cooking; minimizing food and package waste; and empowering children by establishing life-long healthy and sustainable food habits through holistic food education. Secondly, leveraging the power of procurement, governments can create demand-driven changes to support sustainable ecological and regenerative agriculture practices, which promote biodiversity, resilience, and food sovereignty.

In the tropics, combining food security with biodiversity conservation remains a major challenge. Tropical agroforestry systems are among the most biodiversity friendly and productive land-use systems, and 70% of cocoa is grown by >6 million smallholder farmers living on <2$ per day. In cacao’s main centre of diversification, the western Amazon region, interest is growing to achieve premium prices with the conversion of high-yielding, but mostly bulk-quality cacao to native fine-flavor cacao varieties, culturally important since pre-Columbian times. Conversion to native cacao can be expected to favor adaptation to regional climate and growth conditions, and to enhance native biodiversity and ecosystem services such as biological pest control and pollination, but possibly also imply susceptibility to diseases. Experience from successful conversion of non native cacao plantations to fine-flavor cacao agroforestry with rejuvenation by grafting and under medium-canopy cover levels (30%–40%) can ensure a smooth transition with only minor temporary productivity gaps. This includes ongoing selection programs of high yielding and disease resistant native fine-flavor cacao genotypes and organizing in cooperatives to buffer the high market volatility. In conclusion, the recent interest on converting bulk cacao to a diversity of native fine-flavor varieties in countries like Peru is a challenge, but offers promising socio-ecological perspectives.

Abstract The importance of legumes in sustainable cropping systems has been studied extensively. Among legumes, common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a rich world resource of biodiversity with two centers of domestication (Andes and Central America) and over 10 major market classes cultivated globally. Common beans are recognized as a nutrient‐dense, healthy food source due to their high protein, dietary fiber, and minerals content and also being a rich source of resistant and slowly digestible starch, which elicits a lower glycemic response. Some bioactive compounds present in beans are reported to mitigate cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, hyper‐cholesterolemia, and cancer. Dry bean production systems provide unique advantages that support sustainability, including a low carbon footprint and short growth cycle, which facilitates crop diversification and cover crop integration. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF), a unique characteristic of legumes, promotes environmentally friendly production through modest fertilizer use. Advances to improve the upright plant architecture of beans during the last two decades have enhanced options for direct harvest thereby reducing the number of equipment passes required. Overall, the sustainability implications of diversifying crop rotation using beans result in reduced requirements for environmentally unfriendly inputs and buffering of crop productivity under variable weather conditions. This review article covers common beans' role in agricultural sustainability (biodiversity, SNF, rotational diversity, harvest management) and as a sustainable source of nutrition and food security. Further discussion includes measures to enhance dry beans sustainability through breeding and crop management practices by addressing biotic and abiotic stresses (diseases, drought, high temperature, waterlogging, conservation tillage).

Vietnam has emerged as a global fish producer. Globally, the country is the fourth-largest producer of aquatic food, and the third-largest fish exporter in the world. Vietnam is at the frontline in meeting the global demand for aquatic foods. Aquatic food is increasingly becoming a primary source of protein and micronutrients, livelihoods, national economy, and well-being for Vietnamese. Therefore, sustainable development of the aquatic food system is critical for human, animal, and ecosystem health, including biodiversity, land and water use, climate, and other aquatic and land-based economic sectors. Nevertheless, the fish sector in Vietnam significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mangrove deforestation. Yet, it is unclear how Vietnam’s fish sector and associated agricultural industries can respond to climatic risks and contribute to climate change mitigation despite the country’s strong commitment to net-zero emissions by 2025. Research and innovations that support sustainable decision-making should be prioritized in Vietnam. It is essential to promote science and policy research to increase Vietnam's knowledge base toward its blue transformation, especially quantitative frameworks, to support and guide decision-making processes toward its net-zero-emission commitment. This priority includes developing and adopting user-friendly integrated modeling and planning frameworks to assist stakeholders in examining the trade-offs and co-benefits of policy options in agriculture and aquaculture food systems, undertaking stock assessments as part of MRV systems (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification), developing scenarios of potential futures, and designing policies and programs. The modeling frameworks also provide practical tools to assess policy changes' socio-economic and environmental impact on desired objectives and stakeholders, including gender and regional-specific impacts.

Vietnam has emerged as a global fish producer. Globally, the country is the fourth-largest producer of aquatic food, and the third-largest fish exporter in the world. Vietnam is at the frontline in meeting the global demand for aquatic foods. Aquatic food is increasingly becoming a primary source of protein and micronutrients, livelihoods, national economy, and well-being for Vietnamese. Therefore, sustainable development of the aquatic food system is critical for human, animal, and ecosystem health, including biodiversity, land and water use, climate, and other aquatic and land-based economic sectors. Nevertheless, the fish sector in Vietnam significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mangrove deforestation. Yet, it is unclear how Vietnam’s fish sector and associated agricultural industries can respond to climatic risks and contribute to climate change mitigation despite the country’s strong commitment to net-zero emissions by 2025. Research and innovations that support sustainable decision-making should be prioritized in Vietnam. It is essential to promote science and policy research to increase Vietnam's knowledge base toward its blue transformation, especially quantitative frameworks, to support and guide decision-making processes toward its net-zero-emission commitment. This priority includes developing and adopting user-friendly integrated modeling and planning frameworks to assist stakeholders in examining the trade-offs and co-benefits of policy options in agriculture and aquaculture food systems, undertaking stock assessments as part of MRV systems (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification), developing scenarios of potential futures, and designing policies and programs. The modeling frameworks also provide practical tools to assess policy changes' socio-economic and environmental impact on desired objectives and stakeholders, including gender and regional-specific impacts.

The world faces a series of different global changes, which are complex in nature and require urgent action from Academia, Public and Private Organizations and Governments. The Institute for Global Change and Sustainability, Associated Laboratory CHANGE, integrates researchers from multidisciplinary areas of expertise that shall enable the development of appropriate solutions targeting the present and future environment and natural resources management, forestry and farming systems, energy and climate, as well as demographic and social challenges. The Mission of CHANGE is the development of scientifically supported solutions for public policy and governance targeting an environmentally friendly, resource-efficient, and competitive economy, in the context of existent global changes. These should be innovative and up-to-date policies, implemented at multiple scales. For fulfilling this Mission, the integration of knowledge, synergies and complementary aspects of the research undertaken within the three R&D units, CENSE, cE3c and MED, is fundamental. Innovative solutions for a changing world require often interdisciplinary approaches and combinations of knowledge not seen before. Therefore, we believe that exchange and networking, within the CHANGE community itself, is key in strengthening our skills and competences, and our capacity to respond to changing societal challenges. The event Science CHANGing Policy was a showcase of CHANGE capabilities and a platform to boost the interaction and collaborative work between the researchers from CHANGE. This event included past, present and future work covering the areas of biodiversity and ecosystem services restoration, promotion of sustainable food and biomass systems, preservation and restoration of natural resources, circular economy and energetic transition and territorial cohesion enhancement.

Livestock production faces important challenges in addressing the integral concept of sustainability. The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is recognized for its high productivity standards and its advancement urgently demands the promotion of efficient, environmentally friendly, economically viable and socially acceptable pasture-based systems. The analysis of biological systems is characterized by the use of basic calculations during the production process that define the complex dynamics of natural capital, which is directly managed by human activities with a simplification and selection of biodiversity to support ecosystem function while generating products of agri-food interest. In order to consolidate a conceptual approach to sustainable grazing of B. bubalis, 674 specialized texts derived from refereed and indexed scientific journals (83.23%), books or book chapters (14.84%), proceedings of scientific events (0.74%) and other dissemination instruments such as official bulletins and brief notes from institutional pages (1.19%), written in English (86.05%), Spanish (12.02%), Portuguese (1.34%) or other languages (0.59%), were analyzed. By bringing together the conclusive comments of each scientific instrument consulted, the current philosophy of sustainable development to establish sustainable livestock systems requires in particular: a) designing agroecosystems that favor the increase of biodiversity; b) monitoring key indicators of biological efficiency and including the evaluation of feasibility to implement corrective measures; and c) taking maximum advantage of highly biodiverse or mixed pastures under technical control of grazing to minimize the emission of pollutant gases. Well-managed pastures have been promoted as a key strategy to recover in a profitable way the sustainable balance of the agroecosystem, taking into account that grazing has a strong influence on grass composition and, therefore, pasture quality; many researchers consider B. bubalis herds as living tools for the remediation of pastures degraded by weed infestation thanks to their resistance and low selectivity that allows modulating grazing areas for remediation. If these recommendations are met, production with B. bubalis would offer beneficial ecosystem services that would make the buffalo system a safer, more sustainable and resilient supplier of animal protein, since farms that operate under biological diversification criteria are more resistant to climate change, improve soil health, increase animal productivity and make efficient use of nutrients; however, each system is unique and its dynamism among components varies according to the yield goal sought by the producer according to local conditions.

181 páginas, material suplementario (35 figuras, 10 tablas). – Tesis doctoral. Universidad de Salamanca. Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Salamanca-CSIC. Leída, 14-12-2023. – Incluye el trabajo publicado en acceso abierto: Doubi M, Krishtammagari A, Sánchez-Martín MJ, Rodríguez-Cruz MS, Marín-Benito JM. 2023. Mulching vs. organic soil amendment: Effects on adsorption-desorption of herbicides. Science of the Total Environment, 892: 164749, DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164749 | Conventional agriculture is an intensive farming practice that involves the use of excessive soil tillage, intensive land use, continuous inputs of synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides, heavy irrigation, and concentrated monoculture production. This type of agriculture is widely used as it has been successful in increasing food production and meeting the demands of a growing global population. However, it has also been associated with several environmental and sustainability issues, including soil degradation, erosion and runoff, loss of microbial diversity, chemical pollution, groundwater contamination, and emission of greenhouse gases. In response to these challenges, new soil management practices and cropping systems have been developed and implemented in the last decades to ensure alternative and more sustainable farming systems. These new practices address some of these issues while promoting long-term sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices. These new approaches are represented by conservation agriculture. These practices include non-tillage, the presence of cover crops during the fallow period, and the accumulation of harvested crop residues as mulch on the soil surface (mulching). Non-tillage and the presence of crop residues on the soil surface improve soil structure, fertility, and organic matter content, protect the soil from wind and water erosion, and maintain soil moisture while reducing the need for irrigation and increase soil microbial biodiversity. Accordingly, all these agricultural practices and soil management have important social and agricultural benefits. However, the use of pesticides remains, to a greater or lesser extent, necessary even in this type of conservation agriculture from a productive point of view. Farmers consider pesticides (mainly herbicides) essential chemicals for increasing crop yields by controlling pests and diseases that threaten the food supply. In this regard, it is necessary to take into account that the application of these conservation management practices results in changes in soil physicochemical properties, which could modify the processes that govern the dynamics of herbicides in natural soils (adsorption, desorption, degradation/dissipation, mobility via leaching or runoff, and volatilization). Changes in these processes are highly relevant to predict the current and future environmental fate of herbicides in soils under conservation agricultural practices. Therefore, the knowledge of the fate of applied herbicides under conservation practices is particularly important and needs to be carefully studied in order to assess and minimize their potential environmental risk to soil and water quality. In this sense, the use of mathematical models, which evaluate the environmental fate of these compounds is of great interest, especially if they are parameterized and tested with data and results obtained under field conditions. These models, after a correct validation, can be used as a tool to predict pesticide concentrations in the different environmental compartments (soil, air, plant and water) in the long-term without carrying out further experimental tests. In accordance with the above, and considering that there is only a few studies that combine intermediate cover crops, mulching and pesticide fate models, the main objective of this thesis was to study under real field conditions (experimental plots) the effect of conservation agricultural practices including intermediate cover crops, the accumulation of crop residues on the soil surface (mulching), non-tillage, and direct seeding, on the environmental fate of three herbicides, S-metolachlor (SMOC), foramsulfuron (FORAM) and thiencarbazone-methyl (TCM). The study was carried out through: 1) the evaluation of the dissipation, persistence, distribution and/or mobility of the herbicides in the soil profiles under conventional and conservation cropping systems, 2) the changes in soil microbial communities influenced by these agronomic practices as indicators of soil quality and conservation, and 3) the modelling of the herbicides environmental fate using PRZM (Pesticide Root Zone Model) and MACRO (Water and solute transport in macroporous soils) models, that were parameterised and validated with data measured under real field conditions to predict the impact and viability of these agronomic practices on soil sustainability and surface and groundwater quality in the long-term. | The realisation of this work has been possible thanks to the predoctoral scholarship provided by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research within the Residential National Program (Presidential Decree nº 14-196 of 06 July 2014). The research has been funded by the projests RTI2018/101587-J-I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/Feder Una manera de hacer Europa) and PID2020-113379RB-I00. Acknowledgements to Project “CLU-2019-05—IRNASA/CSIC Unit of Excellence”, funded by the regional government, the Junta de Castilla y León and co-financed by the European Union (ERDF “Europe drives our growth”). | Peer reviewed

Die Landwirtschaftsfläche ist in Deutschland in den letzten Jahrzehnten kontinuierlich zurückgegangen. Dies ging mit einer Zunahme von Siedlungs- und Verkehrsfläche sowie von Waldfläche einher. Dieser Prozess setzt sich weiter fort. Auch wenn die Nahrungsversorgung in Deutschland aufgrund dieser Entwicklung nicht gefährdet wird, ist Landwirtschaftsfläche eine grundsätzlich sehr knappe und schützenswerte Ressource. Es muss abgewogen werden, welche globale Verantwortung Deutschland hat, fruchtbare Ackerflächen für die Nahrungsproduktion einzusetzen und entsprechend zu schützen. Vor dem Hintergrund nationaler und internationaler Nachhaltigkeitsziele, die auf den Schutz der Böden abzielen, und angesichts der Tatsache, dass die pro Kopf zur Verfügung stehenden Anbauflächen weltweit abnehmen, sollte Deutschland im Umgang mit der Ressource Boden eine Vorbildfunktion einnehmen. In den letzten Jahren ist die Flächenneuinanspruchnahme für Siedlung und Verkehr deutlich zurückgegangen. Im Zuge des geplanten, verstärkten Wohnungsneubaus und des Ausbaus erneuerbarer Energien, insbesondere der Freiflächen-Photovoltaik, ist jedoch bis 2030 eine stark ansteigende Flächenneuinanspruchnahme zu erwarten. Gleichzeitig werden aus Sicht des Biodiversitäts- und Klimaschutzes zunehmende Flächenansprüche für die Schaffung naturnaher Lebensräume und Kohlenstoffsenken formuliert. Diese sind mit Flächennutzungs-änderungen (Aufforstung, Gehölzpflanzungen, Wiedervernässung von Mooren) oder mit einer Extensivierung der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzung verbunden. In welchem Umfang die landwirtschaftlich genutzte Fläche (LF) durch zusätzliche Flächenansprüche für bezahlbaren Wohnraum, für die Energiewende und für den natürlichen Klimaschutz insgesamt beansprucht wird, ist angesichts zahlreicher Unwägbarkeiten kaum prognostizierbar. Eine Schätzung unter der Annahme, dass wesentliche formulierte Ziele bis 2030 erreicht werden, beläuft sich auf einen Rückgang um mehr als 300.000 ha LF bis 2030. Die zunehmenden Flächenansprüche verstärken die ohnehin bestehenden Flächennutzungskonkurrenzen. Die Nutzungsansprüche müssen künftig stärker gegeneinander abgewogen werden, und Synergien und Mehrfachnutzungen von Flächen sollten so weit wie möglich realisiert werden. Beispiele für solche Synergien sind der Ausbau von Photovoltaik (PV) auf Siedlungs- und Verkehrsflächen, auf wiedervernässten Mooren oder in Kombination mit landwirtschaftlicher Nutzung. Eine Steuerung des PV-Ausbaus auf Freiflächen ist derzeit allerdings nur eingeschränkt möglich, da Planung und Genehmigung in der Hand der Kommunen liegen und Neuanlagen zunehmend auch außerhalb des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes entstehen. Die erweiterte baurechtliche Privilegierung von Freiflächen-PV auf Korridoren entlang von Autobahnen und Bahntrassen soll den Ausbau beschleunigen und befördert dabei die Umwandlung von Landwirtschaftsflächen, ohne die genannten Synergien zu nutzen. Angesichts der hohen Flächenansprüche für den Biodiversitäts- und Klimaschutz müssen auch in diesem Bereich Synergien genutzt werden. Die Abwägung und Steuerung der verschiedenen Flächenansprüche, ohne dabei das Tempo der Energiewende und der Transformation in Richtung einer nachhaltigeren und klimafreundlicheren Landnutzung zu bremsen, ist eine große Herausforderung für die Politik. Hierfür ist eine zielübergreifende Landnutzungspolitik zu entwickeln. | Agricultural land in Germany has continuously declined in recent decades. This was accompanied by an increase in settlement and transport areas as well as forest areas. This process continues. Even if the food supply in Germany is not endangered due to this development, agricultural land is a fundamentally scarce resource that is worth protecting. It must be taken into account that Germany has a global responsibility to use fertile arable land for food production and to protect it accordingly. In view of the fact that national and international sustainability goals are aimed at protecting soils and that the amount of arable land available per capita is decreasing worldwide, Germany should therefore provide an example in dealing with soil as a resource. In recent years, new land use for settlement and transport infrastructure has declined significantly. However, as a result of plans to increase construction of new housing and to expand renewable energies, especially ground-mounted photovoltaics, a sharp increase in new land use is expected by 2030. At the same time, from the perspective of biodiversity and climate protection, increasing demands are being made for the creation of near-natural habitats and carbon sinks. These are associated with land use changes (afforestation, planting of woodlands and hedges, rewetting of peatlands) or with an extensification of agricultural use. Given the numerous uncertainties, it is difficult to predict to what extent the utilised agricultural area will be allocated towards additional land requirements for affordable housing, the energy transition and natural climate protection. An estimate assuming that key goals are achieved by 2030 amounts to a decline of more than 300,000 hectares of utilised agricultural area by 2030. The increasing demands for land are exacerbating the already existing competition between land uses. In the future, land use requirements must be carefully weighed up more closely and synergies and multiple uses of areas should be realized as far as possible. Examples of such synergies include the expansion of photovoltaics (PV) on settlement and transport areas, on rewetted peatlands or in combination with agricultural use. However, governance of PV expansion on open spaces is currently only possible to a limited extent, as planning and approval are in the hands of the municipalities and new systems are increasingly being built outside of the Renewable Energy Act. The expanded privilege under building law for ground-mounted PV on corridors along motorways and railway lines is intended to accelerate expansion. However, it promotes the conversion of agricultural land without taking advantage of the aforementioned synergies. Given the high demands on land for biodiversity and climate protection, synergies must also be realised in this area. Balancing and controlling the various land requirements without slowing down the pace of the energy transition and the transformation towards more sustainable and climate-friendly land use is a major challenge for politicians. For this purpose, a cross-target land use policy must be developed.