Promoting indigenous vegetables in urban agriculture & livelihoods : policy lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa

[From Introduction] Globally, the growth of urbanised areas continues at an exponential rate, and most spectacularly in the developing world. The global urban population will increase from 2.9 billion in 2000 to 5.0 billion by 2030. The mean rate of urban growth in non-OECD countries between 2000 and 2005 was just under 3% per annum, compared to 0.5 % for rural regions of the same countries (UN-Habitat 2006). Although the proportion of Africans currently living in urban areas is the lowest in the world (+ 40%), because of this low base it is not unsurprising that the rates of urbanisation are among the highest at approximately 4.3% per annum. Projections vary, but sometime in the mid- 2020s over 50% of Africa's population will be living in urban areas, as compared to just 15% in 1950 and 34% in 1994. As urbanisation takes place another important trend is revealed, namely the locus of poverty in Africa is slowly shifting from rural to urban areas. For example, it is estimated that more than 56% of the world's absolute or chronic poor will be concentrated in urban areas (WRI 1996). Since as much as 60-80% of the income of the urban poor is spent on the purchase of food (Maxwell et al. 2000), the issue of food supply, both its quantity and quality, is increasingly a central issue in poverty reduction debates and strategies. In rural areas, a common strategy to alleviate poverty is to call for measures to boost small-holder food production. Surprisingly, this is less common in urban poverty alleviation programmes, despite the widespread promise of urban and household agriculture in contributing to improved food security

Reflective self-attention: A more stable predictor of connection to nature than mindful attention.

There is much to be gained from understanding the individual differences that predict our connection to nature, as those that are more connected tend to be more caring towards the environment and benefit from better well-being. Study 1 (n=137) found that reflective self-attention and mindful attention significantly predicted connection to nature, while anxious self-attention had a borderline significant negative association. With the introduction of personality measures, study 2 (n=161) found that reflective self-attention and openness had a stronger relationship to nature connection than mindful attention. Study 3 (n=99) found reflective self-attention, rather than mindful attention, to be associated with an increase in connection to nature. A pre-reflective and intentional self-attention account of nature connectedness is proposed with intentional self-reflection being a stronger factor than mindful attention

The opportunities and challenges to co-designing policy options for tree health with policy makers, researchers and land managers

\ua9 2023. We describe experiences between 2018 and 2021 co-designing tree health policy options linked with the UK\u27s evolving land use policy post EU-Exit within the Future Farming and Countryside Programme. Policy makers, researchers and more than 250 land managers took part in a series of co-design engagements in a three-phase iterative co-design process that culminated in a new Tree Health Pilot. After defining the components of co-design, we describe how relationships between policy makers, researchers and land managers were built, the methods researchers introduced into the process to build capability and support participation, and the outcomes in terms of the key opportunities and challenges for policy co-design. We conclude that it is possible to move policy design beyond user focused research and into co-design. However, this relies on adequate time and resources required to build trust and fully engage all parties in a meaningful way, including the development of tools and techniques that include experimentation, different knowledge types, and moving from research and evidence collection into design. Having policy makers with participatory mindsets in the same space as land managers was important to facilitating active learning between all of those involved in the collective. Researchers played a critical role in the co-design, balancing the views and understandings of the policy community with those of the land manager community, facilitating learning, and selecting tools and techniques to make design options explicit. We conclude that policy co-design in the land-based and environmental sector is a real opportunity at an early stage of realisation, but the effectiveness and range of positive and negative outcomes and impacts will need to be evaluated in the future

Working with decision-makers for resilient forests: a case study from the UK

Improving resilience in forests relies on an understanding of the values, knowledge and practices associated with forests. In this paper, based on a case study from the UK, we present qualitative data on how the concept of resilience is understood by decision-makers, the effectiveness of existing policy tools to promote resilient forests and the current boundaries and social acceptability of different management options. Our research reveals that the articulation of actual, possible and needed policy responses reflects the challenge that resilience is a multifaceted concept with an array of potential implications, connected with a diverse set of forest ecosystems. Our research suggests that the collaborative development and promotion of an overarching vision for resilience, which recognises the needs and contexts of different owners and managers in the sector, might begin to overcome the current challenge of fragmented policy and lack of policy tools. This will necessarily involve discussion and coordination across different areas of government and involve those agencies and organisations responsible for the science behind resilience approaches and applications. In particular, there is a need to contextualise and communicate resilience in line with stakeholder needs, and to articulate the uncertainty associated with resilience measures in a range of situations so public agencies, forest owners and managers can make informed choices

'We're Farmers not Foresters': Farmers' Decision-Making and Behaviours towards Managing Trees for Pests and Diseases

Policy makers are challenged to find ways of influencing and supporting land manager behaviours and actions to deal with the impacts of increasing pressure from tree pests and diseases. This paper investigates attitudes and behaviours of farmers towards managing trees on farmland for pests and diseases. Data collection with farmers included deliberative workshops and semi-structured interviews. Data were thematically analyzed using the COM-B (Capacity/Opportunity/Motivation-Behaviour) model to understand the drivers of farmer behaviour for tree health. Results suggested farmers had some knowledge, experience and skills managing trees, but they did not recognize this capacity. Social norms and networks impacted the context of opportunity to act for tree health, along with access to trusted advice and labour, and the costs associated with management action. Motivational factors such as self-efficacy, perceived benefits of acting, personal interest and sense of agency were impacted by farmers’ self-identity as food producers. The COM-B model also provides a framework for identifying intervention design through a Behaviour Change Wheel. This suggests that enhancing self-efficacy supported by the right kind of advice and guidance, framed and communicated in farmers’ terms and brokered by appropriate knowledge intermediaries, seems critical to building action amongst different farmer types and attitudinal groups

Innovative Governance of Urban Green Spaces : Learning from 18 innovatives examples around Europe

In this report we have investigated 18 examples of innovative governance arrangements in urban green space management across Europe. In this analyses, we focused on three interrelated research questions: i) What do innovative governance arrangements look like in terms of aims, actors, structure, contexts, dynamics, and which of their elements can be seen as innovative? ii) Which are the most important perceived effects of these arrangements in their environmental and political contexts? iii) What lessons can be drawn from the supporting and hindering factors for these arrangements, and the power dynamics that take place

Development of a Tool for Navigating the Evidence concerning Land Managers and Woodland Creation in the United Kingdom

Woodland creation has become an important objective for a variety of stakeholders to help tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. One of the key evidence needs is a better understanding of the multiple factors influencing the willingness and ability of landowners and managers to establish new woodlands. To address this gap, a systematic map of evidence was prepared comprising publications from academic journals and grey literature accessed through bibliographic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and CAB Abstracts), libraries, direct requests to relevant organisations and individuals, and citation tracking from past reviews. A screening process refined the evidence base to 226 studies within the UK. The systematic evidence map codes the content of each study against a comprehensive list comprising actors, drivers of or barriers to woodland creation, and outcomes. These are presented as a freely accessible, interactive online dashboard detailing sources of evidence. The systematic evidence map helps users navigate the evidence, demonstrating where the bulk of the evidence lies and, conversely, several evidence gaps where there is comparatively little evidence. The findings serve as a basis for dialogue with stakeholders to determine priorities for future primary research

Mainstreaming social sciences expertise in UK environment policy and practice organisations: retrospect and prospect

Building upon the concept of mainstreaming social sciences within conservation, we consider their mainstreaming, and so integration, within UK environment policy and practice (EPP) organisations. The paper responds to increasing calls to recognise the essential role of social sciences in addressing global environmental crises across policy, practice and research. An actor-oriented approach was deployed, producing empirical information from a multi-stage, co-designed, collaborative study involving 19 social scientists from a range of EPP organisations, to understand how they experience the mainstreaming of social sciences. The findings contribute to debates about the politics of knowledge in organisational domains other than those focused on research, specifically EPP organisations. Evidence was found of recent positive changes in how social sciences are perceived, resourced and utilised within EPP, as well as examples of positive impact. However, although EPP organisations are recognising the opportunities that social sciences expertise brings, in practice social sciences still face barriers to effective integration. Many of the challenges faced by the social sciences within academic multi-discipline research (e.g., late, narrow, or selective enrolment) were also experienced in EPP organisations, along with some unique challenges. Informed by the findings, the paper proposes a set of integration indicators designed to assess organisational progress toward addressing the observed challenges. It is recommended that these indicators are employed at a strategic level by EPP organisations seeking to better integrate social sciences expertise into their work

A horizon scan of issues affecting UK forest management within 50 years

Forests are in the spotlight: they are expected to play a pivotal role in our response to society’s greatest challenges, such as the climate and biodiversity crises. Yet, the forests themselves, and the sector that manages them, face a range of interrelated threats and opportunities. Many of these are well understood, even if the solutions remain elusive. However, there are also emerging trends that are currently less widely appreciated. We report here the results of a horizon scan to identify developing issues likely to affect UK forest management within the next 50 years. These are issues that are presently under-recognized but have potential for significant impact across the sector and beyond. As the forest management sector naturally operates over long timescales, the importance of using good foresight is self-evident. We followed a tried-and-tested horizon scanning methodology involving a diverse Expert Panel to collate and prioritize a longlist of 180 issues. The top 15 issues identified are presented in the Graphical Abstract. The issues represent a diverse range of themes, within a spectrum of influences from environmental shocks and perturbations to changing political and socio-economic drivers, with complex emerging interactions between them. The most highly ranked issue was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’, reflecting agreement that not only is such collapse a likely prospect but it would also have huge implications across the sector and wider society. These and many of the other issues are large scale, with far-reaching implications. We must be careful to avoid inaction through being overwhelmed, or indeed to merely focus on ‘easy wins’ without considering broader ramifications. Our responses to each of the challenges and opportunities highlighted must be synergistic and coherent, involving landscape-scale planning. A more adaptive approach to forest management will be essential, encouraging continual innovation and learning. The 15 horizon scan issues presented here are a starting point on which to build further research, prompt debate and action, and develop evidence-based policy and practice. We hope that this stimulates greater recognition of how our forests and sector may need to change to be fit for the future. In some cases, these changes will need to be fundamental and momentous