Resilience thinking and agricultural biodiversity governance – towards a system approach for catalyzing desired change

1. Resilience thinking and agricultural biodiversity governance – towards a system approach for catalyzing desired change Pernilla Malmer, Senior Advisor The Resilience and Development Programme, Stockholm Resilience Centre

2. Stockholm Resilience Centre • Advances transdisciplinary research for governance of social-ecological systems • A special emphasis on resilience – the ability to deal with change and continue to develop

3. Planetary boundaries Food for a growing world population within the planetary boundaries will require a new ‘planetary food revolution’

4. Aichi target 7 By 2020 areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity.

5. Resilience thinking Resilience – the capacity of a system to deal with change and continue to develop Social ecological systems Adaptation Transformation

6. Why social-ecological resilience? • Human well-being is underpinned by ecosystems • Human activities are strong drivers of ecosystem change • People can and do act as stewards of their environment

7. The challenge of transformation of agricultural systems Increasing yields needs not translate into bioidversity loss or more land spared for nature

8. Agroecological intensification Tscharntke, T., et al. BiologicalConservation 2012

9. Relations between people and nature are complex • Cannot manage social and ecological systems in isolation • History is important and place matters • Ecosystems change and evolve • We change, adapt and innovate

10. Causal loop analysis From E. Enfors. 2009

11. How to maintain social-ecological resilience? • Learn to live with change and uncertainty • Combine different sources of knowledge • Facilitate self-organization • Nurture diverse sources for renewal and reorganization Folke et al. 2003

12. What is resilience? ‘Resilience is the ability of a community to withstand negative internal and external pressures and threats. Resilience enables adaptation and strength, coherence and intergenerational learning. Communities can be resilient when they are empowered and clear about their future and can act together to protect their rights’. African Biodiversity Network Quote from African Biodiversity Network: www.africanbiodiversity.org

13. Howdo transformations takeplace? Regreening of the Sahel Farmers appear to have actively managed their land in ways that contribute to re-greening, and also enhanced productivity.

14. The Tigray experience An approach based on sound ecological principles can enable farmers to overcome environmental constraints such as erosion, poor soil fertility and build household food security on a sustainable basis.

15. Kenvo and the Kijabe landscape – an ecoagriculture approach The question that KENVO is grappling with now is how best to measure the landscape in terms of agricultural production and socioeconomic (livelihood) welfare

16. Participatory plantbreeding – linking action research to global policy

17. Sustainable agricultural intensification

18. What needs to be done • Watch out for planetary boundaries • Food is creation from cultural and biological diversity – place based, diverse • Food security policies for resilient and productive agricultural systems and landscapes must emphasize and build on an increase in agroecologic capacity.

19. Thank you Pernilla Malmer Stockholm ResilienceCentre pernilla.malmer@stockholmresilience.su.se Subscribetoour newsletter www.stockholmresilience.org/subscribe 19