Global modeling of the socioeconomic, political, and environmental relations of farmer seed systems (FSS): Spatial analysis and insights for sustainable development

Accessible, high-quality seed is vital to the agricultural, food, and nutrition sovereignty needed for justice-based sustainable development. Multiregion, interdisciplinary research on farmers' seed systems (FSS) can complement case-based and thematic approaches.This study's goals are to (1) provide a synthetic overview of current major FSS concepts;(2) design and evaluate a novel social- and political-ecological model of FSS using globally representative data from mountain agricultural areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America;(3) model and evaluate FSS relations to socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors including main food crops (rice, wheat, maize, potato, and common bean);(4) generate new spatial, geographic, and demographic estimates;and (5) strengthen FSS for justice-based sustainable development of agriculture, land use, and food systems. The conceptual framework of FSS-related factors guided the global modeling of data from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A multiple regression model explained FSS utilization (R2 1/4 0.53, P < 0.0001), specifying the significant inverse relations to mean farm area (strong), per-capita Gross Domestic Product at the district level (strong), and urban distance (moderate). FSS showed strong positive relations to aridity and topographic ruggedness. FSS were positively related to elevation in a 5-country Andean subsample. Results estimated FSS utilization by 136 million farmers within the 11 countries. Novel insights to strengthen FSS policies and programs are the importance of FSS to extremely small farm-area subgroups and other distinct FSS stakeholders, global-region geopolitical distinctness of FSS-farm area relations, multidistrict FSS concentrations that enable extralocal FSS spatial connectivity, FSS capacities in climate-change hot spots, and high FSS encompassing periurban areas. Policy-relevant results on global geographic and demographic extensiveness of FSS and key spatial, socioeconomic, political, and environment relations demonstrate that globally FSS are key to supporting agrobiodiversity, agroecology, nutrition, and the sustainability of food systems. These advise strengthening FSS through pro-poor and linked urban-rural policies at regional scales in addition to expanding local initiatives.

Review of adaptations of U.S. Commercial Fisheries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed social and economic systems globally, including fisheries systems. Decreases in seafood demand, supply chain disruptions, and public safety regulations required numerous adaptations to maintain the livelihoods and social resilience of fishing communities. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were undertaken to assess impacts from and adaptive responses to the pandemic in commercial fisheries in five U.S. regions: the Northeast, California, Alaska, the U.S. Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. Fishery adaptation strategies were categorized using the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework, a novel application to understand social transformation in a social-ecological system in response to a disturbance. A number of innovations emerged, or were facilitated, that could improve the fisheries' resilience to future disruptions. Fishers with diversified options and strategic flexibility generally fared better, i.e., had fewer disruptions to their livelihoods. Using the RAD framework to identify adaptation strategies from fishery system actors highlights opportunities for improving resilience of fisheries social-ecological systems to future stressors.

Resilience in the times of COVID: what the response to the COVID pandemic teaches us about resilience principles

Times of crisis offer a rare opportunity to understand the mechanisms underpinning the resilience of complex adaptive systems. The coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020 overwhelmed health systems worldwide and forced governments, businesses, and individuals to deploy a range of coping and adaptation strategies. Through an online survey targeting members of the Resilience Alliance and their collaborators, we examined 61 distinct strategies deployed in the initial months of the pandemic to assess empirically which resilience-building mechanisms were actually implemented to navigate the crisis. Our results show that managing connectivity, feedbacks, and learning were essential during the initial part of the pandemic. Other principles such as building diversity, redundancy, polycentricity, and inviting participation become important in rebuilding during the aftermath of a crisis, whereas keeping a systems view, monitoring slow variables, and practicing adaptive management are practices that should be incorporated during regular times.

Making waves: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 anthropause in the Netherlands on urban aquatic ecosystem services provisioning and management.

The anomalous past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a test of human response to global crisis management as typical human activities were significantly altered. The COVID-instigated anthropause has illustrated the influence that humans and the biosphere have on each other, especially given the variety of national mobility interventions that have been implemented globally. These local COVID-19-era restrictions influenced human-ecosystem interactions through changes in accessibility of water systems and changes in ecosystem service demand. Four urban aquatic case studies in the Netherlands demonstrated shifts in human demand during the anthropause. For instance, reduced boat traffic in Amsterdam canals led to improved water clarity. In comparison, ongoing service exploitation from increased recreational fishing, use of bathing waters and national parks visitation are heightening concerns about potential ecosystem degradation. We distilled management lessons from both the case studies as well as from recent literature pertaining to ecological intactness and social relevance. Equally important to the lessons themselves, however, is the pace at which informed management practices are established after the pandemic ends, particularly as many communities currently recognize the importance of aquatic ecosystems and are amenable to their protection.

Health and landscape approaches: A comparative review of integrated approaches to health and landscape management

Landscape approaches are integrated place-based approaches and provide cross-sectoral opportunities to facilitate sustainability transformations. The COVID-19 outbreak has profound ramifications for multiple dimensions of landscapes, ranging from mobility and lifestyle to value to environment and society. Therefore, integrated approaches to “health” have been more vigorously promoted in the policy arena dealing with human–nature interactions. The ecosystem principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which resonate with landscape approaches, are generally aligned with integrated approaches to health. However, commonalities and distinctions between these integrated approaches in both political and scientific domains have not been clarified. Drawing on a narrative review of the literature on “One Health,” “Ecohealth,” and “Planetary Health” as major health-oriented approaches in comparison with landscape approaches, the aspects of landscape approaches to be complemented in addressing health-related challenges were examined in this study. In addition to the review on the intellectual roots and evolutionary pathways, a comparative analysis of these relevant approaches was conducted in terms of three realms including theoretical assumptions, knowledge bases, and research paradigms. The results of the comparative review show that all approaches share systems thinking, interdisciplinarity, cross-sectoral collaboration, and holistic paradigm but differ with respect to their focused management problems, disciplines, and sectors as well as ontological and epistemological underpinnings. Pointing to the recent theoretical and methodological development in integrating health in placemaking, the results of this study suggest that pragmatic landscape approaches could be strengthened by using health-related research paradigms to achieve better constructivism–positivism meeting grounds regarding health–landscape intersections.

Local ecological knowledge and resilience of ethnomedical systems in a changing world – South American perspectives

We are experiencing an era of great and rapid changes that directly affect biocultural systems. Ethnomedical systems are complex social-ecological structures and processes affected by drivers that may lead to changes in the trajectories of these systems, or even to collapse, according to their resilience and adaptation capacity. We examine ethnomedical systems in the context of social-ecological resilience, discussing how these systems are adapting and responding to current challenges, threats and risks. Seven case studies from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities living close to forest ecosystems in South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) provide an overview and offer strategies for research and public policies related to biocultural diversity and health. We discuss some nuances of ethnomedical systems resilience, such as the importance of utilitarian redundancy, the effects of biomedicine and technologies on traditional practices, including the hybridization process;the effects of contaminated environments in the use of plants;the influence of COVID-19 on traditional practices and peoples’ creative responses to the pandemic;and the influence of Brazilian health care policies for Indigenous Peoples. Based on these case studies at different spatial scales (individual, local community, metacommunity, and macrosystem levels), we discuss the adaptation, transformation, and resilience of ethnomedical systems, as well as the role of local ecological knowledge in this process. We highlight new perspectives for research, actions and public policies that can favor the quality of life and health of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Home Food Gardening: Benefits and Barriers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Santiago, Chile

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live in an unprecedented way. This includes severe impacts on people's health and wellbeing such as stress, reduced physical activity and loneliness due to confinement. In parallel, people had to find ways to secure their food, with fresh food especially scarce in some regions due to lockdowns and restricted flow of goods. As in previous massive crises, the practice of home food gardening seemed to have increased during this pandemic. Yet we largely do not know which parts of society took to home food gardening, in which urban setting home food gardening was practiced, and to which extent this practice contributed to people's daily livelihoods during the pandemic. In this case study we explore (a) who practices home food gardening, (b) the garden characteristics, and (c) the main perceived benefits and barriers bound to home food gardening during the pandemic. We set up an online questionnaire targeted at the population of Santiago de Chile, for which we received 305 responses. Our results clearly show that the possibility of being in contact with nature and feeling less stress through practicing home food gardening were the most significant perceived benefits, while lack of or inadequate space to garden and limited knowledge on home food gardening were the main barriers. These findings highlight for the specific context of a metropolitan region in South America that access to gardens and green space could contribute to a just urban society. Likewise, the practice of home food gardening can be a relevant tool to cope with the adverse consequences of the pandemic by informing public initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles during this and future crises contexts and also in the awaited "ordinary" times.

The nature of the pandemic: Exploring the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic upon recreation visitor behaviors and experiences in parks and protected areas

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected parks and protected areas and overall recreation visitation across the United States. While outdoor recreation has been demonstrated to be beneficial, especially during a pandemic, the resulting increase in recreation visitation raises concerns regarding the broader influence of social, situational, ecological, and behavioral factors upon overall visitor experiences. This study investigated the extent to which recreation visitors’ behaviors and experiences have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic within the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF). A modified drop-off pick-up survey method was employed to collect population-level data from WMNF visitors from June to August of 2020 (n=317), at the height of the pandemic. Results from this mixed-method study suggest social factors (e.g., crowding and conflict), situational factors (e.g., access and closures), ecological factors (e.g., vegetation damage), behavioral factors (e.g., substitution), and sociodemographic factors (e.g., gender and income) significantly influenced overall visitor decision-making and experience quality within the WMNF. For example, more than one-third of visitors indicated the pandemic had either a major or severe impact upon their WMNF recreation experience. A more nuanced investigation of qualitative data determined that the majority of pandemic-related recreation impacts revolved around the themes of social impacts, general negative recreation impacts, situational and ecological impacts, and behavioral adaptation impacts. Moreover, historically marginalized populations (e.g., low-income households and females) within the sample reported significantly higher recreation experience impacts during the pandemic. This study demonstrates the influence of the pandemic upon outdoor recreation visitor experiences and behaviors and considers outdoor recreation as a central component within the broader social-ecological systems framework. This study demonstrates the influence of the pandemic upon outdoor recreation visitor experiences and behaviors and considers resource users a central component within the broader social-ecological systems conceptual framework.

An integrative framework for transformative social change: a case in global wildlife trade.

To achieve a sustainable future, it is imperative to transform human actions collectively and underlying social structures. Decades of research in social sciences have offered complementary insights into how such transformations might occur. However, these insights largely remain disjunct and of limited scope, such that strategies for solving global environmental challenges remain elusive. There is a need to integrate approaches focusing on individuals and social structures to understand how individual actions influence and are in turn influenced by social structures and norms. In this paper, we synthesize a range of insights across different schools of thought and integrate them in a novel framework for transformative social change. Our framework explains the relationships among individual behaviors, collective actions, and social structures and helps change agents guide societal transitions toward environmental sustainability. We apply this framework to the global wildlife trade-which presents several distinct challenges of human actions, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic-and identify pathways toward transformative change. One key distinction we make is between different individual actions that comprise the practice itself (e.g., buying wildlife products; private action) and those that push for a broader system change in practice (e.g., signaling (dis)approval for wildlife consumption; social-signaling action, and campaigning for policies that end unsustainable wildlife trade; system-changing action). In general, transformative change will require an integrative approach that includes both structural reforms and all three classes of individual action.

Smallholder farmer resilience: a multi-year multidimensional study in the Dominican Republic and Haiti

A multi-year study of smallholder farmer groups in the Dominican Republic and Haiti provides multidimensional evidence of social-ecological resilience using four distinct data sources:1)A rapid assessment conducted early in the COVID-19 pandemic2)Impact metrics collected in 2017 and late 20203)Savings group behaviour metrics collected every 3 months4)Participatory analysis conducted by farmers and community membersThis mixed-methods analysis indicates that smallholder farmers participating in locally based autonomous savings groups are more likely to have COVID response plans in their community, and exhibit metrics of resilience such as increased amounts of savings reserves, income diversity, and regenerative farming practice diversity. Farmers in these groups showed little sign of changed engagement in group practices such as meeting attendance, savings investment or loan activity, and in some cases showed increased engagement. While this observational study does not allow a statistically verifiable causal link between group participation and resilience, participatory analysis by farmers themselves directly links group participation with increased ability to address the shock represented by the pandemic.

Envisioning a resilient future for biodiversity conservation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect societies across the world, the ongoing economic and social disruptions are likely to present fundamental challenges for current and future biodiversity conservation.We review the literature for outcomes of past major societal, political, economic and zoonotic perturbations on biodiversity conservation, and demonstrate the complex implications of perturbation events upon conservation efforts. Building on the review findings, we use six in-depth case studies and the emerging literature to identify positive and negative outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, known and anticipated, for biodiversity conservation efforts around the world.A number of similarities exist between the current pandemic and past perturbations, with experiences highlighting that the pandemic-induced declines in conservation revenue and capacity, livelihood and trade disruptions are likely to have long-lasting and negative implications for biodiversity and conservation efforts.Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic also brought about a global pause in human movement that is unique in recent history, and may yet foster long-lasting behavioural and societal changes, presenting opportunities to strengthen and advance conservation efforts in the wake of the pandemic. Enhanced collaborations and partnerships at the local level, cross-sectoral engagement, local investment and leadership will all enhance the resilience of conservation efforts in the face of future perturbations. Other actions aimed at enhancing resilience will require fundamental institutional change and extensive government and public engagement and support if they are to be realised.The pandemic has highlighted the inherent vulnerabilities in the social and economic models upon which many conservation efforts are based. In so doing, it presents an opportunity to reconsider the status quo for conservation, and promotes behaviours and actions that are resilient to future perturbation. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

"Health in" and "Health of" Social-Ecological Systems: A Practical Framework for the Management of Healthy and Resilient Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems.

The past two decades have seen an accumulation of theoretical and empirical evidence for the interlinkages between human health and well-being, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and agriculture. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the devastating impacts that an emerging pathogen, of animal origin, can have on human societies and economies. A number of scholars have called for the wider adoption of "One Health integrated approaches" to better prevent, and respond to, the threats of emerging zoonotic diseases. However, there are theoretical and practical challenges that have precluded the full development and practical implementation of this approach. Whilst integrated approaches to health are increasingly adopting a social-ecological system framework (SES), the lack of clarity in framing the key concept of resilience in health contexts remains a major barrier to its implementation by scientists and practitioners. We propose an operational framework, based on a transdisciplinary definition of Socio-Ecological System Health (SESH) that explicitly links health and ecosystem management with the resilience of SES, and the adaptive capacity of the actors and agents within SES, to prevent and cope with emerging health and environmental risks. We focus on agricultural transitions that play a critical role in disease emergence and biodiversity conservation, to illustrate the proposed participatory framework to frame and co-design SESH interventions. Finally, we highlight critical changes that are needed from researchers, policy makers and donors, in order to engage communities and other stakeholders involved in the management of their own health and that of the underpinning ecosystems.

Changes in human-nature relations during pandemic outbreaks: a big data analysis.

Pandemic outbreaks can cause diverse impacts on society by altering human-nature relations. This study analyzed these relational changes during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Swine flu, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and Ebola outbreaks by applying machine learning and big data analyses of global news articles. The results showed that social-ecological systems play vital roles in analyzing indirect pandemic impacts. Herein, major pandemic impacts, including reduced use of cultural ecosystem services, can be analyzed by big data analyses at the global scale. All the identified pandemic impacts herein were linked to provisioning and cultural ecosystem services, implying that these ecosystem services might be more recognized or valued more by the public than regulating and supporting ecosystem services. Further, the pandemic impacts were presented with human-centric views, indicating a challenge to adapting nature-based solutions to mitigate the risk of future pandemic emergences. These findings will advance the current knowledge of diverse pandemic impacts and human-nature relations.