Suchergebnisse

Despite the importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for local livelihoods in tropical countries and the increasing attention for biodiversity-ecosystem services relationships, it remained unclear how the ecosystem service of NTFP provisioning is related to plant diversity. Although it is generally assumed that plant diversity is positively related to ecosystem services, this had not been assessed for NTFP provisioning. We applied bivariate and multiple regression models to explore the relationships between the abundance of 58 commercially relevant NTFP species and woody plant diversity across 287 plots of tropical forests in Northern Suriname. We found that NTFP abundance showed both positive and negative relationships to plant diversity indicators. In contrast to expectations, NTFP abundance was negatively related to woody species richness. In addition, across the plots disproportionately few (2–6) NTFP species determined >50% of NTFP abundance. The occurrence and the identity of these 'NTFP oligarchs' was associated to specific floristic compositions. Overall, more than half, i.e. 55.9%, of the observed variation in NTFP abundance could be explained by a combination of taxonomic and structural plant diversity indicators. Our case study findings are relevant for conservation policies in general. In most countries NTFPs are not on the agenda of governments and current tropical conservation policies often focus on forests with high species richness and/or carbon stocks. Our findings indicate that current policies may not cover valuable forests in terms of high NTFP abundance. To support sustainable NTFP provisioning, additional conservation efforts would need to include those vegetation types with high NTFP abundance.

Bhutan's nature conservation policy aims to integrate nature conservation and economic development. This policy is guided by a Buddhist attitude that places coexistence with nature over exploitation of nature for economic gain. We looked at how nature conservation policy affected everyday life and economic activities of local communities and what this may imply for the country's long-term socioeconomic development. The study includes a field survey involving 210 local residents in two national parks. The results indicated that there is support for nature conservation in local communities despite the significant restrictions on the use of non—timber forest products and the loss of crops to wild animals. However, the compensation schemes are inadequate which may lead to depopulation and the abandonment of land in rural areas.

From a participatory governance perspective, managing changes in ecosystems requires involvement of stakeholders. However, when the impacts of such changes are unclear or unknown, problem perceptions are latent and stakeholders cannot be identified. To elicit perceptions of an ecosystem change despite unknown impacts, we employed Q methodology regarding landscape values. From these perceptions we derived stakeholder stances on the ecosystem change constituted by the invasive alien plant Coralita (Antigonon leptopus) on the Caribbean Netherlands islands of St. Eustatius and Saba. Ecologists view Coralita as a clear threat, but the exact impacts of the plant are unknown and therefore locals do not have manifest problem perceptions. Nevertheless, we derived three perspectives on the value of nature per island, which in turn yielded insights into stakeholders' views on Coralita management. Our approach can be applied for other management questions regarding changes in ecosystems when the impacts on humans are unclear and hence problem perceptions latent.

European agriculture, and Dutch agriculture in particular, is at a crossroads. Due to rationalisation, including intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, biodiversity in rural areas is declining at an unprecedented rate. Socioeconomic developments in the agricultural sector also show 'a race to the bottom'. Farmers produce on world markets and are only able to compete on input costs. This results in lower income per unit crop or animal and leads to an ever increasing farm size. In turn this leads to a further decline of habitat of species bound to rural areas and farmland. To turn these negative trends around the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture has proposed an alternative form of farming, labelled 'nature inclusive' farming, that 1) benefits from the services that natural processes provide, 2) delivers agri-environmental practices to maintain agro-biodiversity and 3) strongly reduces its negative impacts on the environment. Currently this Ministry supports the adoption of nature inclusive farming practices by funding innovative experiments led by farmer initiatives. Despite some promising results, such innovations have large difficulties to be scaled up, largely due to counteracting forces of the current agricultural system. Using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework developed by Hekkert and Negro (2009), we argue that a systemic transition of current agricultural practices is required to mainstream 'nature inclusive' farming. Such a transition can only be realised when a shared vision on the future agricultural sector is developed, set out by the government and societal parties. Such a shared vision can then lead to new enabling (policy) environments/landscapes in which these innovations can rise. Without such shared vision, innovations will be locked-in into the current agricultural system, to the extent of a very low prospect of nature inclusive innovations. Furthermore, we observe that the many experiments currently running suffer from a lack of interconnected learning platforms, a lack of documentation of failures and successes and little attention for the forces leading to lock-in and preventing a regime shift. Using two examples, we will illustrate what type of interventions are needed to up-scale nature inclusive innovations. Keyword 1: innovation studies Keyword 2: sustainable agriculture Keyword 3: agricultural policy ; peerReviewed