Creating pathways to just and sustainable food systems with citizen assemblies.

Food systems affect and are affected by the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion and health, amongst others. Transforming to sustainable approaches is vital, yet entangled with uncertainties, complexity and a great value diversion with stakeholders. Deliberative processes such as citizen assemblies offer a valuable contribution to such a transformation, since the crises and their responses affect everyday life, and therefore inviting individual and collective action.

Linking Forest Ecosystem Services to the SDGs: Semi-quantitative Mapping of Perceptions towards Integrated Decision-making.

With this study, we test and present the results of a reproducible semi-quantitative methodological approach, which enables us to map perceptions of complex systems, linking the forest ecosystem services (FES) of a given spatial level to the wider policy domains represented by the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a participative process, we used integrated forest management and FES as entry point concepts to support and inform dialog towards a normative desired future as framed by the SDGs, taking into account interdependencies across sectors and policy domains. The scales used in the test were national (Switzerland) and international but it is possible to use the approach at any level of integration, especially the landscape one in the case of forest or other ecosystem issues to be transdisciplinary solved.

Mountain social-ecological resilience requires transdisciplinarity with Indigenous and local worldviews.

Addressing the shocks of global crises requires that scientists, policymakers, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities work together to enable communities to withstand and adapt to disturbances. On the basis of our experiences in the Andes, we propose the '10-step cycle of transdisciplinarity' for designing projects to build social-ecological resilience in mountains.

Which competencies should be fostered in education for sustainable development at higher education institutions? Findings from the evaluation of the study programs at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

A relatively broad consolidated consensus has emerged among experts regarding the competencies that should be fostered through an education for sustainable development at the higher education level. However, there is little empirical support to aid in answering the question of which competencies should be promoted from the perspective of students and graduates. This was the main purpose for analyzing the corresponding results of the evaluation of the study programs in sustainable development at the University of Bern.

Could global norms enable definition of sustainable farming systems in a transformative international trade system?

This paper aims to support differentiation between sustainable and unsustainable agricultural production, with a view to enabling a transformative agricultural trade system by incentivizing sustainable agricultural production. We argue that transformative governance of corresponding global trade flows will need to provide support to the weaker participants in production systems, above all small-scale farmers in the global South, in order to support their food security and a path out of poverty as well as global environmental goals. The present article seeks to provide an overview of internationally agreed norms that can serve as basis for differentiation between sustainable and unsustainable agricultural systems.

How can Quality of Life be Achieved in a Sustainable Way? Perceptions of Swiss Rural Inhabitants.

Rural regions in Europe are often structurally weaker than urban areas and are subject to strong socio-economic development. At the same time, they offer opportunities for a high quality of life and sustainability. The key question of this article is how quality of life in high-income countries can be achieved more sustainably.

Tools for USLE-CP-factor calculation and actual erosion risk on field block level for Switzerland.

The calculation of the cover management factor (C-factor) and support practices factor (P-factor) is an important element in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). In Switzerland, a potential soil erosion risk map of arable land and a field block map that represents the basis of the agriculturally used areas in the country are available. A CP-factor tool was developed adapted to Swiss agronomic and environmental conditions, which allows to calculate CP-factors easily for various crop rotations and management practices.

The Indispensable Territorial Dimension of Food Supply: A View from Brazil During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The research-activists network 'Collective Action on Real Food' analyzed alternative food supply initiatives formed in response and/or expanded due to the pandemic in Brazil and identified more than 260 examples. Despite this dynamism, the policy processes of the UN Food System Summit were not able to-or might not even have tried to-break the mechanisms that make such initiatives politically invisible.

Drawing the line between sustainable and unsustainable fish: product differentiation that supports sustainable development through trade measures.

Background: Unsustainable production practices and increased demand for fish have aggravated negative social, ecological, and environmental impacts in fisheries and aquaculture. Measures to correct bad practices have mainly been introduced by private actors. However, there is increased demand for state intervention, particularly regarding trade regulations for fish and other agricultural products.

The emergence of land systems as the nexus for sustainability transformations : This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Agriculture land use.

This perspective recognizes the seminal Ambio articles of Sombroek et al. (1993), Turner et al. (1994) and Brussaard et al.

A call for urgent action to safeguard our planet and our health in line with the helsinki declaration.

In 2015, the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission launched a report introducing a novel approach called Planetary Health and proposed a concept, a strategy and a course of action. To discuss the concept of Planetary Health in the context of Europe, a conference entitled: "Europe That Protects: Safeguarding Our Planet, Safeguarding Our Health" was held in Helsinki in December 2019. The conference participants concluded with a need for action to support Planetary Health during the 2020s.

Restoration of degraded grasslands, but not invasion by Prosopis juliflora, avoids trade-offs between climate change mitigation and other ecosystem services.

Grassland degradation and the concomitant loss of soil organic carbon is widespread in tropical arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Afforestation of degraded grassland, sometimes by using invasive alien trees, has been put forward as a legitimate climate change mitigation strategy. However, even in cases where tree encroachment of degraded grasslands leads to increased soil organic carbon, it may come at a high cost since the restoration of grassland-characteristic biodiversity and ecosystem services will be blocked.

The parable of arable land: Characterizing large scale land acquisitions through network analysis.

Land is a scarce resource and its depletion is related to a combination of demographic and economic factors. Hence, the changes in dietary habits and increase in world population that upturn the food demand, are intertwined with a context of increasing oil prices and rise of green capitalism that in turn impacts the demand in biofuel. A visible indicator of these phenomena is the increase, in recent years, of Large Scale Land Acquisitions (LSLAs) by private companies or states.

Oil palm concessions in southern Myanmar consist mostly of unconverted forest.

The increased demand for palm oil has led to an expansion of oil palm concessions in the tropics, and the clearing of abundant forest as a result. However, concessions are typically incompletely planted to varying degrees, leaving much land unused. The remaining forests within such concessions are at high risk of deforestation, as there are normally no legal hurdles to their clearance, therefore making them excellent targets for conservation.

Balancing cash and food: The impacts of agrarian change on rural land use and wellbeing in Northern Laos.

This study investigates the effects of improved market accessibility on agricultural land use and basic wellbeing, defined by income and rice sufficiency, in Xayaburi province, Lao PDR through a meso-scale and actor-oriented approach with data collection at both district and household level. It also investigates farmers' decision-making as it relates to regional markets. Increasing market accessibility in rural areas facilitates cash crop trade leading to agrarian change from subsistence to commercial agricultural systems.

Effects of climate change on water resources in the upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia.

Drawing on hydrology, rainfall, and climatic data from the past 25 years, this article investigates the effects of climate change on water resources in the transnational Blue Nile Basin (BNB). The primary focus is on determining the long-term temporal and seasonal changes in the flows of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia at the border to Sudan. This is important because the Blue Nile is the main tributary to the Nile river, the lifeline of both Sudan and Egypt.

Spatial analysis and characteristics of pig farming in Thailand.

Background: In Thailand, pig production intensified significantly during the last decade, with many economic, epidemiological and environmental implications. Strategies toward more sustainable future developments are currently investigated, and these could be informed by a detailed assessment of the main trends in the pig sector, and on how different production systems are geographically distributed. This study had two main objectives.

An applied methodology for stakeholder identification in transdisciplinary research.

In this paper we present a novel methodology for identifying stakeholders for the purpose of engaging with them in transdisciplinary, sustainability research projects. In transdisciplinary research, it is important to identify a range of stakeholders prior to the problem-focussed stages of research. Early engagement with diverse stakeholders creates space for them to influence the research process, including problem definition, from the start.

Explaining how unexploded ordnance clearance enhances livelihoods in the Lao PDR.

Background: Following violent conflict, the continued presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance pose a barrier to rebuilding livelihoods. Mine action removes these explosive remnants of conflict to enable communities to safely return contaminated land to productive use. There is limited understanding, however, of how, why, in what context and in what respects mine action contributes to livelihoods.