The Social-Ecological System of Farmers' Current Soil Carbon Management in Australian Grazing Lands.

Soil carbon sequestration programmes are a way of offsetting GHG emissions, however, it requires agricultural landholders to be engaged in such initiatives for carbon offsets to occur. Farmer engagement is low in market-based programmes for soil carbon credits in Australia. We interviewed long-term practitioners (n = 25) of rotational grazing in high-rainfall lands of New South Wales, Australia to understand their current social-ecological system (SES) of soil carbon management (SCM). The aim was to identify those components of the SES that motivate them to manage soil carbon and also influence their potential engagement in soil carbon sequestration programmes. Utilising first-tier and second-tier concepts from Ostrom's SES framework, the interview data were coded and identified a total of 51 features that characterised the farmers' SES of SCM. Network analysis of farmer interview data revealed that the current SES of SCM has low connectivity among the SES features (30%). In four workshops with interviewed farmers (n = 2) and invited service providers (n = 2) the 51 features were reviewed and participants decided on the positioning and the interactions between features that were considered to influence SCM into a causal loop diagram. Post-workshop, 10 feedback loops were identified that revealed the different and common perspectives of farmers and service providers on SCM in a consolidated causal loop diagram. Defining the SES relationships for SCM can identify the challenges and needs of stakeholders, particularly farmers, which can then be addressed to achieve local, national and international objectives, such as SCM co-benefits, GHG reduction, carbon sequestration targets and SDGs.

Institutionalising co-management activities for conservation of forest resources: Evidence from the Sundarban mangrove forest management of Bangladesh.

Understanding local stakeholders' perceptions of co-management institutional activities serves a significant role in the proper functioning of the co-management institutions for the Sundarban mangrove forest conservation effort, but this currently remains unexplored. This study aimed to identify the current co-management institutions, co-management activities, and local people's understanding of these activities in the implementation of the co-management approach. The study was conducted in four villages in the Chandpai range of the Sundarban mangrove forest. Thematic content analysis was conducted on the qualitative data, which had been collected through key informant interviews at the local, regional and national levels, followed by focus group discussions in the study villages. The key forest co-management activities and practices identified were: forest protection and monitoring; meetings; local livelihood initiatives; and organisational supports. These co-management activities were implemented through institutions largely situated at the local level, through Village Conservation Forum, People's Forum and Community Patrol Group; higher-level institutions included the Co-management Committee, where local, district and national stakeholders were represented. Local people with forest dependency were participating in forest co-management activities and their awareness of forest conservation and social network had increased. In addition, people who had received training from government and non-government organisations reported benefits such as improved resource harvesting techniques, organisational skills and practical knowledge, which would be useful in times of natural disasters. However, local people also reported a range of issues affecting their full participation, which included top down decision-making, insignificant financial support, absence of alternate income sources, lack of meeting places for VCF members, gender inequality in participation, corruption and lack of skill-based training. A key governance issue for the local-level forest co-management institutions was limited access to the government organisations who oversaw policy and institutional control. In contrast, non-government organisations provided important institutional capacity-building support to local communities, and acted as a conduit to higher level committees. Broader impact could be achieved by fostering local participation, especially that of women, through genuine collaboration with other stakeholders, and extending the lessons learned from the study villages through exchange visits and sharing of ideas with other VCF villages in the area.

Salinity-affected threshold yield loss: A signal of adaptation tipping points for salinity management of dry season rice cultivation in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.

The potential existence of threshold yield loss in dry season rice growing systems under coastal saline environment remains unexplored, a scenario that could have policy relevance in government planning of rice intensification in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. This study applied the adaptation tipping points (ATPs) approach to investigate threshold yield loss from multiple perspectives of farmers affected by salinity. Data were generated from 280 randomly-selected farmers (rice farmers, n = 109; shrimp farmers, n = 107; salt farmers, n = 64) from two coastal sub-districts using a semi-structured survey. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to complement the survey results. Our study revealed that despite government actions to promote dry season rice cultivation, farmers have been growing less rice in this season, with salinity-affected yield loss being the prime reason. Most of the rice farmers have considered that they would discontinue rice cultivation in this season due to yield loss, while shrimp and salt farmers have already reduced rice cultivation for the same reason and shifted to shrimp and salt farming as they perceived these enterprises as highly profitable and require less labour than rice farming. Rice farmers would tolerate a greater rice yield loss (23%) under saline conditions compared with the shrimp (16%) and salt farmers (14%). The yield loss thresholds indicate the need for government actions to support and encourage integrated land management for rice, shrimp and salt farming, rather than research and extension efforts for dry season rice expansion alone. These actions could strengthen sustainable livelihood options to ensure food security, and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals, for instance no poverty (SDG-1), zero hunger (SDG-2), and good health and well-being (SDG-3).

The importance of farmers' perceptions of salinity and adaptation strategies for ensuring food security: Evidence from the coastal rice growing areas of Bangladesh.

Coastal salinity causes substantial adverse impacts on agricultural productivity and food security. Farmers' choice of salinity adaptation strategies might depend on how they perceive the problem. This research examined rice farmers' perceptions of salinity, adaptation strategies, and its implications for policy initiatives to sustain rice production in the affected coastal areas of Bangladesh. Boro rice growers (n = 109) randomly selected from two coastal sub-districts were interviewed using a semi-structured survey. Awareness of salinity and its increase over the past 20 years was widespread among rice farmers. A high proportion of farmers (90%) perceived the reproductive (e.g. booting, heading, and flowering) stages of the rice plant as the most sensitive to salinity problems. Salinity (ECe) was measured in the farmers' fields and were categorized according to farmers' perceptions and scientific interpretation (e.g. high or low). Farmers perceived a field affected by high salinity at a lower EC reading than the scientific interpretation of the salinity level. Most of the farmers (67%) were undertaking early transplanting and applying irrigation in order to adapt to salinity problems which occur later in rice crop growth during Boro season. Thus, farmers' actions demonstrated that their perceptions of salinity and adaptation responses were pre-emptive of when salinity was most likely to have an impact on the rice crop. Farmers' perceptions of salinization and measures to manage salinity need to be considered in research prioritization and policy formulation by the government. This action could potentially secure rice production and thus contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-1, 2 and 3).

The Effect of Increasing Topsoil Disturbance on Surface-Active Invertebrate Composition and Abundance under Grazing and Cropping Regimes on Vertisols in North-West New South Wales, Australia.

Agricultural intensification practices involve varying degrees of disturbance to the soil ecosystem. This study evaluated six agricultural management regimes with increasing levels of topsoil disturbance, on the composition and abundance of surface-active invertebrates on Vertisols at a sub-catchment scale. Two grazing (native and introduced pastures), and four cropping (combining short and long fallow, with zero and conventional tillage) management regimes were examined. Surface-active invertebrates were collected seasonally with pitfall traps over 2 years (8 seasons), and identified to order, while ants (Formicidae) that comprised 47% of total invertebrates collected, were identified to genera. Season had a significant effect on ant abundance and number of genera recorded with higher abundance and twice the number of genera in summer than all other seasons. Ants, particularly Iridomyrmex, were mainly active in summer, while other invertebrates especially Coleoptera, were more active in winter. Surface-active invertebrates were 30% more abundant in grazing than cropping land use types. Native pasture, with little surface soil disturbance, recorded the highest number of invertebrates, mainly ants, compared to other agricultural management regimes. Coleoptera and Dermaptera were higher in abundance under conventional tillage compared with those agricultural management regimes that disturb the topsoil less. Optimizing surface-active invertebrate activity on Vertisols for most taxa will require reducing topsoil disturbance. However, the research findings also suggest that the impact of agricultural management regimes on invertebrate activity was difficult to predict with any certainty as the three main ant genera, and most abundant invertebrate collected, did not respond in a consistent manner.

A systematic review of soil carbon management in Australia and the need for a social-ecological systems framework.

Research efforts, on soil carbon management in agricultural lands, over the last two decades have sought to improve our understanding in order to increase soil productivity, soil carbon sequestration and to offset greenhouse gas emissions. This systematic review aims to identify the research gaps and future direction of soil carbon management in Australia. We explored and synthesized the use of social-ecological systems (SES) both in the global and Australian context, before making the first attempt to develop a conceptual SES framework for soil carbon management. Both quantitative and qualitative assessment of articles were used to identify and synthesise research trends, challenges and opportunities for improved soil carbon management. The results provide valuable insight into the SES components examined, the research gaps and the methodological challenges for research into soil carbon management conducted over the last two decades. The review revealed that research has predominately focused on the ecological component of soil carbon management in agricultural practices and has been conducted from a scientist's perspective. The sustainability of carbon-building soil management practices will require integration of social components into future research, particularly from a farmer perspective. The proposed conceptual SES framework is designed to identify and investigate SES components in soil carbon management in order to increase the process of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions as required by Sustainable Development Goals 2, 13 and 15.