A social-ecological assessment of food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia

Fischer, Joern; Bergsten, Arvid; Dorresteijn, Ine; Hanspach, Jan; Hylander, Kristoffer; Jiren, Tolera Senbeto; Manlosa, Aisa O.; Rodrigues, Patrícia; Schultner, Jannik; Senbeta, Feyera; Shumi, Girma

doi:10.1080/26395916.2021.1952306

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…As such, our results show that diversifying livelihood strategies plays an important role in improving the well-being of farmers, not only overall well-being but also various indicators, such as security, health and freedom and choice. For security, diversification of livelihoods can improve farmers' perception of security [54,55]. This is because the diversification of livelihood strategies is a form of adaptation to fluctuations in resources, seasonality, changes in accessibility and policy [56].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Farmers and Herders and Their Human Well-Being in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

Tang

Kuang

2023

Sustainability

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National parks have implemented restrictive measures on human activities to protect the ecological environment, which has changed the livelihood dependence and strategies of farmers and herders. Exploring the impact of livelihood strategies on the human well-being of farmers and herdsmen within the national park construction area can help to better develop livelihood intervention measures to achieve sustainable livelihoods for farmers and herders. A total of 329 farmers and herders in Qilian Mountain National Park in China were investigated, and one-way ANOVA and ordinary least squares were employed to analyze the impact of farmers’ and herders’ livelihood strategies on human well-being in different periods of national park construction. Our results show that the livelihood strategies of farmers and herders play an important role in their well-being. Farmers and herders adopted diversified livelihood strategies after the National Park System Pilot officially launched (after 2015). The well-being advantage of adopting a diversified livelihood strategy became evident over time. Specifically, farmers and herders adopting the settlement diversification livelihood strategy were able to better adapt to the development concept of the national park after the national park pilot was officially established (after 2017). However, nomadic, settled agricultural, and pastoral households were always at a disadvantage in terms of well-being. In addition, distance, nationality, gender, and education level were important factors affecting the well-being of farmers and herders. The results of this study are helpful for improving our understanding of the influence of livelihood strategies on the well-being of farmers and herders and the related challenges they face in the construction of national parks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Farmers and Herders and Their Human Well-Being in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

Tang

Kuang

2023

Sustainability

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“…People's livelihood strongly relies on the ecosystem services generated from the landscape (Jiren et al, 2022; Jiren, Leventon, et al, 2021). Over the last decades, due to pressure from a myriad of local and regional factors (Tadesse et al, 2014), the landscape has been undergoing rapid social–ecological change (Fischer et al, 2021; Jiren, Bergsten, et al, 2018; Jiren, Hanspach, et al, 2020). As a result, problems such as landscape simplification, deforestation, biodiversity loss, poverty and loss of social values have been growing (Abbink, 2011; Rahmato, 2011; Riechers et al, 2020; Tadesse et al, 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging scenario planning and backcasting: A Q‐analysis of divergent stakeholder priorities for future landscapes

et al. 2023

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1. Many landscapes in sub-Saharan Africa have undergone rapid changes, often with negative social and ecological impacts. Avoiding (or reversing) such negative impacts requires proactive landscape planning. Scenario planning, a participatory approach that generates narratives of plausible landscape change trajectories in the future, has been widely used to support landscape planning and decisions.However, not least because of challenges arising from group dynamics, few examples exist where backcasting-the collective envisioning of a desirable future landscape and the identification of pathways to reach that future-has been applied in landscape planning.2. In this study, building on past scenario planning work in southwestern Ethiopia, we begin to fill this empirical and methodological gap. Specifically, we used the Q-methodology to elucidate stakeholders' divergent landscape aspirations in a case study in southwestern Ethiopia.3. Our results show that many stakeholders share a similar vision of building a future landscape that supports smallholder-based development. However, details in the envisaged pathways differ between stakeholders. Three distinct pathways were prioritized by different stakeholders: (1) Agroecological production, (2) Coffee investment and (3) Intensive food crop production. Accounting for these divergent aspirations is important when taking further steps in landscape planning.4. We show how using the Q-methodology as a subjective assessment of stakeholders' landscape priorities can facilitate the integration of backcasting within the normative process of landscape planning. Our approach thus helps navigate conflicting stakeholders' preferences and based on that, carefully plan collective action towards a shared landscape vision.

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“…In terms of general lessons, the Ethiopian case underlines that successful biodiversity conservation in a post-wild world is intimately intertwined with socioeconomic considerations 93 , 108 . Areas protected from intensive management are effective for biodiversity conservation in principle – but need to be complemented with other approaches since what happens in the remainder of the landscape is also vital 8 , 109 . To integrate conservation and socioeconomic concerns requires not only consideration of agricultural yields or profits, but also consideration of broader issues such as governance, local values and gender dynamics, and citizen participation (Fig.…”

Section: Lesson 5: Use a Social-ecological Systems Perspective For Co...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Irrespective of the land-use history of a particular human-modified landscape, strategies for biodiversity conservation inevitably need to harmonize multiple, sometimes competing goals 7 . Conservation can be especially challenging when the management for multifunctionality also includes targets related to local or regional food security 8 . Given these realities, there is an urgent need to improve biodiversity conservation across the vast range of post-wild landscapes that now dominate our world 3 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world

Hylander,

Nemomissa,

Fischer

et al. 2024

Commun Biol

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The reality for conservation of biodiversity across our planet is that all ecosystems are modified by humans in some way or another. Thus, biodiversity conservation needs to be implemented in multifunctional landscapes. In this paper we use a fascinating coffee-dominated landscape in southwest Ethiopia as our lens to derive general lessons for biodiversity conservation in a post-wild world. Considering a hierarchy of scales from genes to multi-species interactions and social-ecological system contexts, we focus on (i) threats to the genetic diversity of crop wild relatives, (ii) the mechanisms behind trade-offs between biodiversity and agricultural yields, (iii) underexplored species interactions suppressing pest and disease levels, (iv) how the interactions of climate change and land-use change sometimes provide opportunities for restoration, and finally, (v) how to work closely with stakeholders to identify scenarios for sustainable development. The story on how the ecology and evolution of coffee within its indigenous distribution shape biodiversity conservation from genes to social-ecological systems can inspire us to view other landscapes with fresh eyes. The ubiquitous presence of human-nature interactions demands proactive, creative solutions to foster biodiversity conservation not only in remote protected areas but across entire landscapes inhabited by people.

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A social-ecological assessment of food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia

Cited by 11 publications

References 56 publications

Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Farmers and Herders and Their Human Well-Being in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

Exploring Livelihood Strategies of Farmers and Herders and Their Human Well-Being in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

Bridging scenario planning and backcasting: A Q‐analysis of divergent stakeholder priorities for future landscapes

Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world

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