Fed Up: Now's the Time to Invest in Agro-Ecology

As trends in investment in agriculture in poorer countries edge up, the combined effects of climate change, energy scarcity and water paucity now demand that we radically rethink our agricultural systems.Business as usual will not do. An unprecedented combination of pressures is emerging to threatenthe health of existing social and ecological systems. Population and income growth, urbanization,changing consumption patterns, stagnant yields, demand for land, feed, and biofuels, and theimpact of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds.The combined effects of climate change, land degradation, cropland losses, water scarcity and species infestations may cause projected yields to be 5-25% short of demand by 2050, and 600 million additional people could be affected by malnutrition as a direct result of climate change by 2080.The current food system is failing to feed the world adequately, and widespread poverty and inequality mean that many are too poor to access the food that is available. Despite there being enough food for everyone, an estimated 925 million people are hungry and another billion suffer from 'hidden hunger' and micro-nutrient deficiency, while 1.5 billion people are overweight and obese, and a third of all food for human consumption is lost, spoiled, or wasted.Productivity gains from the Green Revolution have not always been sustainable over time and often came at a high social and environmental cost, including the depletion of soils, pollution of groundwater, biodiversity loss, high household debts, and increased inequality among farmers.With case study evidences from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Pakistan, and citing global studies and surveys, this report argues that agro-ecology -- or ecological agriculture -- offers tools that can help the poorest communities to develop new, affordable, dynamic, low-carbon and locally-adaptable models of agricultural development to meet these multiple challenges. Recent research shows that agro-ecology is highly productive and holds great promise for the roughly 500 million food-insecure households around the world.Agro-ecology is the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture, and it is based on practices such as recycling biomass, improving soils through green manures, mulches and bio-fertilisers, minimising water, nutrient and solar radiationlosses, intercropping, mixed farming with a variety of crops and farm animals, and minimising the use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides

How biomimicry helps companies navigate the organizational tension between product performance and environmental impact

The environmental crisis we are living brings massive pressure on many businesses in moving towards more sustainable business models. In their attempt to respond to multiple and oftentimes conflicting goals, many organizational tensions may arise along decision-making processes, especially gaining an efficient product performance while achieving a positive environmental impact. In this context, biomimicry is increasingly spread among companies as a means to solve the tension, as Arnold Glas and Interface successfully shows. By mimicking nature’s efficient and effective strategies experimented for 3.8 billion years, the science can help firms preserving the ecosystems, being profitable, and increasing their overall resilience

Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem: Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well blowout released more petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment than any previous U.S. oil spill (4.9 million barrels), fouling marine life, damaging deep sea and shoreline habitats and causing closures of economically valuable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. A suite of pollutants—liquid and gaseous petroleum compounds plus chemical dispersants—poured into ecosystems that had already been stressed by overfishing, development and global climate change. Beyond the direct effects that were captured in dramatic photographs of oiled birds in the media, it is likely that there are subtle, delayed, indirect and potentially synergistic impacts of these widely dispersed, highly bioavailable and toxic hydrocarbons and chemical dispersants on marine life from pelicans to salt marsh grasses and to deep-sea animals. As tragic as the DWH blowout was, it has stimulated public interest in protecting this economically, socially and environmentally critical region. The 2010 Mabus Report, commissioned by President Barack Obama and written by the secretary of the Navy, provides a blueprint for restoring the Gulf that is bold, visionary and strategic. It is clear that we need not only to repair the damage left behind by the oil but also to go well beyond that to restore the anthropogenically stressed and declining Gulf ecosystems to prosperity-sustaining levels of historic productivity. For this report, we assembled a team of leading scientists with expertise in coastal and marine ecosystems and with experience in their restoration to identify strategies and specific actions that will revitalize and sustain the Gulf coastal economy. Because the DWH spill intervened in ecosystems that are intimately interconnected and already under stress, and will remain stressed from global climate change, we argue that restoration of the Gulf must go beyond the traditional "in-place, in-kind" restoration approach that targets specific damaged habitats or species. A sustainable restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after DWH must: 1. Recognize that ecosystem resilience has been compromised by multiple human interventions predating the DWH spill; 2. Acknowledge that significant future environmental change is inevitable and must be factored into restoration plans and actions for them to be durable; 3. Treat the Gulf as a complex and interconnected network of ecosystems from shoreline to deep sea; and 4. Recognize that human and ecosystem productivity in the Gulf are interdependent, and that human needs from and effects on the Gulf must be integral to restoration planning. With these principles in mind, the authors provide the scientific basis for a sustainable restoration program along three themes: 1. Assess and repair damage from DWH and other stresses on the Gulf; 2. Protect existing habitats and populations; and 3. Integrate sustainable human use with ecological processes in the Gulf of Mexico. Under these themes, 15 historically informed, adaptive, ecosystem-based restoration actions are presented to recover Gulf resources and rebuild the resilience of its ecosystem. The vision that guides our recommendations fundamentally imbeds the restoration actions within the context of the changing environment so as to achieve resilience of resources, human communities and the economy into the indefinite future

A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem: Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well blowout released more petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment than any previous U.S. oil spill (4.9 million barrels), fouling marine life, damaging deep sea and shoreline habitats and causing closures of economically valuable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. A suite of pollutants — liquid and gaseous petroleum compounds plus chemical dispersants — poured into ecosystems that had already been stressed by overfishing, development and global climate change. Beyond the direct effects that were captured in dramatic photographs of oiled birds in the media, it is likely that there are subtle, delayed, indirect and potentially synergistic impacts of these widely dispersed, highly bioavailable and toxic hydrocarbons and chemical dispersants on marine life from pelicans to salt marsh grasses and to deep-sea animals. As tragic as the DWH blowout was, it has stimulated public interest in protecting this economically, socially and environmentally critical region. The 2010 Mabus Report, commissioned by President Barack Obama and written by the secretary of the Navy, provides a blueprint for restoring the Gulf that is bold, visionary and strategic. It is clear that we need not only to repair the damage left behind by the oil but also to go well beyond that to restore the anthropogenically stressed and declining Gulf ecosystems to prosperity-sustaining levels of historic productivity. For this report, we assembled a team of leading scientists with expertise in coastal and marine ecosystems and with experience in their restoration to identify strategies and specific actions that will revitalize and sustain the Gulf coastal economy. Because the DWH spill intervened in ecosystems that are intimately interconnected and already under stress, and will remain stressed from global climate change, we argue that restoration of the Gulf must go beyond the traditional “in-place, in-kind” restoration approach that targets specific damaged habitats or species. A sustainable restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after DWH must: 1. Recognize that ecosystem resilience has been compromised by multiple human interventions predating the DWH spill; 2. Acknowledge that significant future environmental change is inevitable and must be factored into restoration plans and actions for them to be durable; 3. Treat the Gulf as a complex and interconnected network of ecosystems from shoreline to deep sea; and 4. Recognize that human and ecosystem productivity in the Gulf are interdependent, and that human needs from and effects on the Gulf must be integral to restoration planning. With these principles in mind, we provide the scientific basis for a sustainable restoration program along three themes: 1. Assess and repair damage from DWH and other stresses on the Gulf; 2. Protect existing habitats and populations; and 3. Integrate sustainable human use with ecological processes in the Gulf of Mexico. Under these themes, 15 historically informed, adaptive, ecosystem-based restoration actions are presented to recover Gulf resources and rebuild the resilience of its ecosystem. The vision that guides our recommendations fundamentally imbeds the restoration actions within the context of the changing environment so as to achieve resilience of resources, human communities and the economy into the indefinite future

Modeling and analyzing the agroecological performance of farms with ECOPATH

Intensive and integrated resource management, where field crops, vegetables, trees, livestock and fish production are combined through efficient reuse of wastes, residues, by-products and external inputs, offers a potential avenue towards a productive and ecologically balanced agriculture. The ECOPATH model software provides important insights into the structure and function of global aquatic ecosystems. The application of the same concept and approach to terrestrial-based culture systems exemplifies a tool which has the potential to improve communication and productivity within research while addressing the issue of sustainable natural resources management.Farming systems, Agricultural ecology, Resource management, Mathemathical models, Monitoring, Modelling

Exploring the intersection of biology and design for product innovations

Design, development, productization, and applications of advanced product concepts are pressing for higher multifunctionality, resilience, and maximization of available resources equitably to meet the growing and continuing demands of global customers. These demands have further accelerated during the recent COVID- 19 pandemic and are continuing to be a challenge. Engineering designs are one of the most effective ways to endow products with functions, resilience, and sustainability. Biology, through millions of years of evolution, has met these acute requirements under severe resource and environmental constraints. As the manufacturing of products is reaching the fundamental limits of raw materials, labor, and resource constraints in terms of availability, accessibility, and affordability, new approaches are a call to action to meet these challenges. Understanding the designs in biology is an attractive, novel, and desired frontier for learning and implementation to meet this call to action. This is the focus of the paper discussed through examples for convergence of fundamental engineering design concepts and the lessons learned and applied from biology

A structural approach to reimagining community: biomimicry, biophilia and living labs

The global economic operating system of capitalism is incongruent with the values required to sustain life on a planet with a growing population and finite resources. Living in marginalized communities the impoverished are the most negatively affected by the current system, as they are the most vulnerable to the vicissitudes of climate change, resource extraction, labor exploitation and wealth concentration. Our way of life needs to be reimagined to align with principles that are in accordance with the ecological worldview. Aspects of an effective strategy rooted in the ecological worldview - especially Biomimicry, Biophilia and a Living Labs approach - are being created in silos but lack application at a systems level. The objective of this research is to bridge the disparate streams of these concepts into a community-based model, with the aim of replicating the emergent system in order to build alternatives to the current model. The research question to explored is the following: how can the principles of Biomimicry, Biophilia, and Living Labs be integrated and systemically applied in communities? Investigating this question will bring forth the Principles for Transition Infrastructure - an approach to building a resilient, self-sustaining, regenerative model for an alternative way of living. This research concludes that there is an opportunity to dismantle the mechanistic worldview of isolating problems in silos and rather observe the multiple points of interconnectivity that weave together a solution that transcends the parts of the whole. In doing this, we draw from multiple disciplines and find the synergies to construct a reality that is conducive to building new systems and structures to support a harmonious life on this planet

Understanding circular business models: drivers, obstacles and conditions towards a successful transition

Abstract A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible, value creation is maximized in the use phase and products and materials are recovered at the end of each service life. The thesis explores this concept by taking a business model perspective. The theoretical part of the thesis clarifies the phenomenon of circular economy. It summarizes the development of the concept from an historical perspective and clarifies its position with regards to existing contemporary concepts (biomimicry, industrial ecology, cradle to cradle, blue economy, performance economy). By taking a business model perspective on the concept, the thesis attempts to offers a first typology of circular business models. Through the field work, the thesis extends knowledge on the understanding of circular business models at practical level. It highlights the differences between the theoretical underpinnings of the concept (its principles) and its implementation, showing that there is a gap between the concept and the way companies implement it. The findings allow the author to discuss how circular business models are classified and shows that many hybrid circular approaches can emerge. The analysis of the common features of the cases allow the author to draw a first set of normative requirements that define how a circular business model is organized. The cross analysis of the cases supports the development of a framework highlighting the current drivers at internal and external level pushing company to operate within circular economy principles, addressing a set of conditions allowing for the successful implementation of circular business models, while acknowledging a number of recurrent challenges preventing from a full implementation of the concept. At the core of the framework is set of key steps explaining how the transition occurs