Throughout
the tropics, the management
of a mosaic of land-use
systems by farmers
and farming communities
results in complex
and non-additive interactions
and effects on biodiversity,
environmental and
socioeconomic factors
at the watershed and
landscape scales.
Due to the previous
lack of knowledge
or data that could
be compared across
sites, the bulk of
the work undertaken
by ASB partners up
to now has focused
on biodiversity, greenhouse
gas fluxes, economic
profitability and
social feasibility
concerns at the plot
and farm levels.
The
ASB consortium now
needs to scale up
its activities to
the watershed and
landscape scales in
order to address the
critical biophysical,
social, economic and
institutional questions
related to sustainable
agroecosystem mosaics.
For example, if complex
tree-based practices
appear to be superior
to cropping practices
from a number of perspectives
(biodiversity, C sequestration,
and profitability)
at a given benchmark
site, what would be
the consequences of
a whole landscape
of tree-based systems?
Would pests multiply,
leading to unsustainable
agriculture? Would
the prices of the
outputs collapse?
Would farmers choose
to establish best-bet
practices on already
degraded land or would
they clear more forests
if these systems were
highly profitable?
In other words, what
would be the mix of
land uses and practices
(land-use mosaic)
that would address
both environmental
and economic concerns,
while at the same
time being institutionally
feasible?
