A framework to assess food security in regional strategic environmental assessment

Today, food security is central to global social policy and sustainable development agendas; yet food security considerations have not yet widely penetrated environmental impact assessment (IA) practice. This paper investigates criteria and approaches to food security assessment that align with Regional Strategic Environment Assessment (RSEA); a form of IA commonly used to influence natural resource development programmes. The research is based on interviews with seven international food security experts about how food security assessment can be performed at a regional scale, responsive to the impacts of natural resource developments. Analysis of data reveals essential components, key considerations, and procedural requirements for food security assessment within RSEA processes. Based on the evidence, we conclude that food security assessment in RSEA cannot be approached in a piecemeal fashion. To be successful: it must include holistic and comprehensive consideration of all four food security dimensions; communities should be profiled in early stages of the assessment to characterize the regional food system and define its importance to food security; vulnerable populations should be prioritized in the assessment; and it is critical to incorporate meaningful and influential opportunities for public participation. Finally, the recommended approach to analyze food security in RSEA is ‘system analysis’ which includes examination of food system pathways. A conceptual and methodological framework to assess food security in RSEA is presented, intended as a guide for practitioners wishing to incorporate food security into RSEA and RSEA-like initiatives.     

Participatory integrated assessment of adaptation to climate change in Alpine tourism and mountain agriculture

Winter tourism and mountain agriculture are the most important economic sectors in a major part of the Swiss Alps. Both are highly sensitive to changing climatic conditions. In the framework of the CLEAR project, results from climate impact research in the field of tourism and agricultural production were used to investigate the perception of climatic change by stakeholders and to assess possible adaptations. We used a participatory integrated assessment (PIA) to involve the knowledge, values and experiences of the various social actors in tourism and agriculture (e.g., skiers, tourism managers, farmers) in the research process. Whereas climate change may have various severe direct impacts on the tourism industry, depending on the region, agricultural production may generally benefit from changed climatic conditions. But because of the dependence of farmers on “off-farm” income, the loss due to declining winter tourism in specific areas may cause more important indirect effects. However, the two sectors may adapt actively by choosing from a variety of strategies, and the loss of income from the tourism industry may support the re-evaluation of the various functions agriculture plays in mountain regions, beyond the production of food. The study demonstrates the suitability of the PIA approach to elucidate the interactions between different stakeholders and their perception of the climate change phenomena. A similar participatory approach could be a useful tool to transfer research results and expert knowledge to the political process addressing adaptations to climate change. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Global warming potential of food waste through the life cycle assessment: An analytical review

Food loss and waste represent an increasing concern under social, economic and environmental perspective, either in developed or developing realities. It is estimated that more than 1.3 billion tons of food waste are generated along the whole food supply chain, from agricultural to final consumption stages, with associated environmental impacts estimated in approximately 3.3 Gigatons of CO₂ equivalent per year (6% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions). Indeed, food waste issue has been accounted among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of responsible production and consumption, with the aim of halving per capita global food waste and reduce food losses by 2030. The present paper, through a systematic, analytical and configurative review on food waste global warming potential, focuses on the role of Life Cycle Assessment and its related opportunities and challenges along upstream, core and downstream stages, considering at the same time the challenges embedded within alternative disposal technologies. Through the choice of 16 different research string and the selection of 33 papers out of more than 2000 articles between 2011 and 2021, the authors highlight the environmental impacts associated to food waste with regards to: (a) entire food baskets; (b) specific food commodities; (c) food service and households' experiences; (d) diverse disposal alternatives (e.g., anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfill), addressing future research and suitable opportunities to reach national and international sustainable goals.     

Four years of sustainability impact assessments accompanying the implementation of improved cooking stoves in Tanzania

Development projects and innovations are often implemented based on scientific recommendations and do not incorporate local knowledge and demand for interventions. In this paper, we demonstrate the successful engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation and evaluation process of improved cooking stoves; a technology that improves food security in two climatically contrasting regions in Tanzania.The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment tool was used to conduct impact assessments on firewood-based improved cooking stoves to evaluate their contribution to food security at local stakeholder level. Between 2014 and 2017, four annual impact assessments were conducted with local stakeholders in four villages in the semi-arid Dodoma and the sub-humid Morogoro regions to assess the impact of improved cooking stoves on locally defined nine food security criteria. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment was used to (i) ex-ante identify the expected impact, and (ii) to ex-post assess the experienced impact of improved cooking stoves on the nine food security criteria. The impact assessments showed that the perceived contribution of improved cooking stoves towards the food security criteria was positive throughout all assessments. In particular, improved cooking stoves addressed relevant food security criteria such as social relations, food availability, and market participation. The Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment tool supported continuous knowledge exchange between scientists and local stakeholders, thus improving communication and co-learning; while identifying merits and demerits of the improved cooking stoves that could be addressed during the project lifetime.     

Adapting social impact assessment to address a project's human rights impacts and risks

We address the weaknesses inherent in the social risk assessments undertaken for business, especially in the extractive industries. In contrast to the conventional approach that considers consequence to the company rather than to impacted communities, conformance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights requires that consequence to affected communities has precedence. In order for social risks to be properly assessed, we consider that: companies need to know and understand the human rights impacts of their activities; contemporary approaches to project impact and risk assessment need to be adapted to consider human rights; and environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA) methods need to be adapted to give greater attention to impacts on human rights. Using an example from the mining, oil and gas sector, we provide a method that differentiates social risks from business risks, and we position impact assessment as an instrument that actively facilitates the improved identification, analysis and management of social risks. Practical adaptations to SIA activities and risk assessment processes are provided. Taking human rights impacts into account and using the dimensions of gravity, extent, vulnerability and remediability, we nominate criteria to assess the significance of negative social impacts.     

Farmers’ attitude toward treated sludge use in the villages of West Bank,Palestine

An application of treated sewage sludge on agricultural land has been widely accepted, as this method is simple and economical for disposal of wastewater residues. When applied properly on an agricultural land, sludge can replenish organic matter and nutrients in soil. Although sewage sludge has been used in agriculture in many parts of the world, its acceptability varies with different cultures and beliefs among farmers. Farmers’ concerns on sludge use are primarily due to its anthropogenic origin, pollutants that it carries, a general perception of sewage being dirty, and its offensive odor. This paper aims to investigate farmers’ perceptions on land application of treated sewage sludge on their farm. This study targeted two farming communities, namely, Anza and Beit Dajan villages, located in Jenin and Nablus districts in the West Bank, Palestine. In this study, a sample of 106 farmers were randomly selected and surveyed through a mixture of structured and open-ended questions. Results indicated that, overall, farmers have positive perceptions on land application of sludge. A majority of the farmers are in favor of the concept of sludge use when a planned wastewater treatment plant is constructed and it becomes operational. Results also indicate that a majority of the farmers are in favor of using sludge for fertilizing fruit trees, rather than growing vegetables and other plants in a greenhouse, and that many of them have knowledge of sludge properties and advantages and disadvantages of sludge use in agriculture. Despite the positive perceptions by the majority of farmers, a small fraction of the farmers are in disfavor of the use of sludge for the following reasons: psychological and social concerns, potential health risks, and their religious beliefs. Results further suggest that the land application of treated sewage sludge can be accepted by more farmers if the consumers are willing to buy agricultural products fertilized by sludge, sludge meets the public health requirements, and sludge is available at low costs. To improve farmers’ perceptions on the land application of sludge, several measures are recommended.     

Determining significance in social impact assessments (SIA) by applying both technical and participatory approaches: Methodology development and application in a case study of the concentrated solar power plant NOORO I in Morocco

One of the main objectives of impact assessments is to identify potentially significant impacts. However, determining this significance has received very limited attention as a procedural step in social impact assessments. Consequently, only limited research and documentation exists on approaches, survey tools and evaluation methods, especially with regard to participatory approaches and combined participatory-technical approaches. This study aims to address this research gap by developing and applying a joined participatory and technical impact significance evaluation. The approach is applied in a case study which analysed the livelihood impacts of the large-scale concentrated solar power plant NOOR_O I in Ouarzazate, Morocco.The analysis shows that although different approaches and significance criteria must be applied when involving both local stakeholders and experts, the linked analysis offers more robust results and an improved basis for decision-making. Furthermore, it was observed in the case study that impacts affecting the social, cultural and political spheres were more often considered significant than impacts affecting the physical and material livelihood dimensions. Regarding sustainability assessments of large-scale renewable energy plants, these findings underline the importance (as for other large-scale infrastructure developments) of placing greater emphasis on the inclusion of social aspects in impact assessments.     

基于PSO-PPE模型的黑龙江省水资源生态安全探析

针对黑龙江省水资源生态环境现状,构建以水资源、社会经济、生态环境为子系统的水资源生态安全评价指标体系。运用粒子群算法(PSO)优化投影寻踪评价模型(PPE),对黑龙江省水资源生态安全进行研究。结果表明,该地区2003—2016年水资源生态安全整体呈现上升趋势。水资源污染指数和工业万元产值耗水量等指标状态的极大改善,使得2009、2013年水资源生态安全程度分别较前一年增加67.16%和98.76%。2003—2016年水资源、生态环境系统发展波动较大,前者略有降低,后者上升,社会经济系统(权重为0.426 5)发展最为迅速且对水资源生态安全影响最显著。对水资源生态安全影响最显著的指标有人均湿地面积、农业万元产值耗水量、水资源污染指数、工业用水比例、工业万元产值耗水量。该评价结果可为当地政府及环保部门制定政策提供理论参考。     

SHARE IT: Co-designing a sustainability impact assessment framework for urban food sharing initiatives

Urban food systems must undergo a significant transformation if they are to avoid impeding the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals. One reconfiguration with claimed sustainability benefits is ICT-mediated food sharing – an umbrella term used to refer to technologically-augmented collective or collaborative practices around growing, cooking, eating and redistributing food – which some argue improves environmental efficiencies by reducing waste, providing opportunities to make or save money, building social networks and generally enhancing well-being. However, most sustainability claims for food sharing have not been evidenced by systematically collected and presented data. In this paper we document our response to this mismatch between claims and evidence through the development of the SHARECITY sustainability Impact assessment Toolkit (SHARE IT); a novel Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) framework which has been co-designed with food sharing initiatives to better indicate the impact of food-sharing initiatives in urban food systems. We demonstrate that while several SIA frameworks have been developed to evaluate food systems at the urban scale, they contain few measures that specifically account for impacts of the sharing that initiatives undertake. The main body of the paper focuses on the co-design process undertaken with food sharing initiatives based in Dublin and London. Attention is paid to how two core goals were achieved: 1) the identification of a coherent SIA framework containing appropriate indicators for the activities of food sharing initiatives; and 2) the development of an open access online toolkit for in order to make SIA reporting accessible for food sharing initiatives. In conclusion, the co-design process revealed a number of technical and conceptual challenges, but it also stimulated creative responses to these challenges.     

Climate Change Impacts and Human Settlements in Africa: Prospects for Adaptation

Climate change impacts on African human settlements arise from a number of climate change-related causes, notably sea level changes, impacts on water resources, extreme weather events, food security, increased health risks from vector home diseases, and temperature-related morbidity in urban environments.Some coastlines and river deltas of Africa have densely populated low-lying areas, which would be affected by a rise in sea level. Other coastal settlements will be subjected to increased coastal erosion. Recent flooding in East Africa highlighted the vulnerability of flood plain settlements and the need to develop adaptive strategies for extreme weather events management and mitigation. In the semi arid and arid zones many settlements are associated with inland drainage water sources. Increases in drought will enhance water supply related vulnerabilities. Inter-basin and international water transfers raise the need for adequate legal frameworks that ensure equity among participating nations.Similarly, water supply and irrigation reservoirs in seasonal river catchments might fail, leading to poor sanitation in urban areas as well as food shortage. Hydroelectric power generation could be restricted in drought periods, and where it is a major contributor to the energy budget, reduced power generation could lead to a multiplicity of other impacts. States are advised to develop other sources of renewable energy.Temperature changes will lead to altered distribution of disease vectors such as mosquitoes, making settlements currently free of vector borne diseases vulnerable. Rapid breeding of the housefly could create a menace associated with enteric disorders, especially in conditions of poor sanitation.The dry savannahs of Africa are projected as possible future food deficit areas. Recurrent crop failures would lead to transmigration into urban areas. Pastoralists are likely to undertake more trans-boundary migrations and probably come into conflict with settled communities.Adaptive measures will involve methods of coastal defences (where applicable), a critical review of the energy sector, both regionally and nationally, a rigorous adherence to city hygiene procedures, an informed agricultural industry that is capable of adapting to changing climate in terms of cropping strategies, and innovations in environment design to maximise human comfort at minimum energy expenditure. In the savannah and arid areas water resource management systems will be needed to optimise water resource use and interstate co-operation where such resources are shared.Climate change issues discussed here raise the need for state support for more research and education in impacts of climate change on human settlements in Africa.     

Risk assessment for sustainable food security in China according to integrated food security—taking Dongting Lake area for example

Integrated food security covers three aspects: food quantity security, food quality security, and sustainable food security. Because sustainable food security requires that food security must be compatible with sustainable development, the risk assessment of sustainable food security is becoming one of the most important issues. This paper mainly focuses on the characteristics of sustainable food security problems in the major grain-producing areas in China. We establish an index system based on land resources and eco-environmental conditions and apply a dynamic assessment method based on status assessments and trend analysis models to overcome the shortcomings of the static evaluation method. Using fuzzy mathematics, the risks are categorized into four grades: negligible risk, low risk, medium risk, and high risk. A case study was conducted in one of China’s major grain-producing areas: Dongting Lake area. The results predict that the status of the sustainable food security in the Dongting Lake area is unsatisfactory for the foreseeable future. The number of districts at the medium-risk range will increase from six to ten by 2015 due to increasing population pressure, a decrease in the cultivated area, and a decrease in the effective irrigation area. Therefore, appropriate policies and measures should be put forward to improve it. The results could also provide direct support for an early warning system—which could be used to monitor food security trends or nutritional status so to inform policy makers of impending food shortages—to prevent sustainable food security risk based on some classical systematic methods. This is the first research of sustainable food security in terms of risk assessment, from the perspective of resources and the environment, at the regional scale.     

The challenge of assessing social dimensions of avoided deforestation: Examples from Cambodia

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD +) has moved to the central stage of the climate change debate by being promoted as a significant, cheap, and quick win–win strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby mitigate climate change. In order to be successful in reducing emissions while providing the projected social and environmental co-benefits, REDD + needs to overcome key challenges of insecure forest tenure and inequity in the distribution of benefits. Such challenges threaten to affect the livelihoods and well-being in the local communities and in turn the effectiveness of REDD+. While REDD + programs will affect the participating communities, there is limited knowledge as to what social impacts these projects may bring to the local population. Similarly, assessment of these social dimensions has received little attention until recently, and is consequently out of sync with the realities of REDD + projects.The present paper aims to shed light on the methodological and contextual challenges in the assessment of the social dimensions of REDD+. Some of the main social concerns of REDD + are outlined with an emphasis on the uniqueness and complexity of REDD + interventions. Recently proposed approaches to assess social impacts in REDD + are critically assessed in terms of the diversity of frameworks proposed, choice of social indicators, and data collection requirements. Specifically, these methodological implications are further discussed in the light of the social dimensions and the prescribed regulations of REDD + in a Cambodian context.     

Evaluating impacts of development and conservation projects using sustainability indicators: Opportunities and challenges

There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of development and conservation projects. Past and recent experiences have shown that sustainability indicators can be powerful tools for measuring the outcomes of various interventions, when used appropriately and adequately. Currently, there is a range of methods for applying sustainability indicators for project impact evaluation at the environment–development interface. At the same time, a number of challenges persist which have implication for impact evaluation processes especially in developing countries. We highlight some key and recurrent challenges, using three cases from Kenya, Indonesia and Brazil.In this study, we have conducted a comparative analysis across multiple projects from the three countries, which aimed to conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods. The assessments of these projects were designed to evaluate their positive, negative, short-term, long term, direct and indirect impacts. We have identified a set of commonly used sustainability indicators to evaluate the projects and have discussed opportunities and challenges associated with their application. Our analysis shows that impact evaluation processes present good opportunities for applying sustainability indicators. On the other hand, we find that project proponents (e.g. managers, evaluators, donors/funders) face challenges with establishing full impacts of interventions and that these are rooted in monitoring and evaluation processes, lack of evidence-based impacts, difficulties of measuring certain outcomes and concerns over scale of a range of impacts.We outline key lessons learnt from the multiple cases and propose ways to overcome common problems. Results from our analysis demonstrate practical experiences of applying sustainability indicators in developing countries context where there are different prevailing socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions. The knowledge derived from this study may therefore be useful to a wider range of audience who are concerned with sustainable integration of development and environmental conservation.     

Effective monitoring of agriculture: a response

The development of effective agricultural monitoring networks is essential to track, anticipate and manage changes in the social, economic and environmental aspects of agriculture. We welcome the perspective of Lindenmayer and Likens (J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 1559) as published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring on our earlier paper, "Monitoring the World's Agriculture" (Sachs et al., Nature, 2010, 466, 558-560). In this response, we address their three main critiques labeled as 'the passive approach', 'the problem with uniform metrics' and 'the problem with composite metrics'. We expand on specific research questions at the core of the network design, on the distinction between key universal and site-specific metrics to detect change over time and across scales, and on the need for composite metrics in decision-making. We believe that simultaneously measuring indicators of the three pillars of sustainability (environmentally sound, social responsible and economically viable) in an effectively integrated monitoring system will ultimately allow scientists and land managers alike to find solutions to the most pressing problems facing global food security.     

The social values at risk from sea-level rise

Analysis of the risks of sea-level rise favours conventionally measured metrics such as the area of land that may be subsumed, the numbers of properties at risk, and the capital values of assets at risk. Despite this, it is clear that there exist many less material but no less important values at risk from sea-level rise. This paper re-theorises these multifarious social values at risk from sea-level rise, by explaining their diverse nature, and grounding them in the everyday practices of people living in coastal places. It is informed by a review and analysis of research on social values from within the fields of social impact assessment, human geography, psychology, decision analysis, and climate change adaptation. From this we propose that it is the ‘lived values’ of coastal places that are most at risk from sea-level rise. We then offer a framework that groups these lived values into five types: those that are physiological in nature, and those that relate to issues of security, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. This framework of lived values at risk from sea-level rise can guide empirical research investigating the social impacts of sea-level rise, as well as the impacts of actions to adapt to sea-level rise. It also offers a basis for identifying the distribution of related social outcomes across populations exposed to sea-level rise or sea-level rise policies.     

The social impact assessment model and the planning process

Social impact assessment developed along with environmental impact assessment during the early 1970s as a methodological tool with which to better understand the consequences of environmental alteration and as an input to environmental impact statements. The idea was that if adverse social, economic, and physical effects of development were known in advance, they could either be mediated or eliminated.For the most part, the assessment of biological and economic impacts has become a required input into every stage in the planning process. However, social changes are not always arrayed alongside economic, biological, and landuse changes in the matrix that leads to the final decision.The major difficulty in the application of SIA process has been in identifying and measuring the social impacts that occur with each project. Even if important social impacts were identified, few procedures have been developed for measuring their significance. When either social costs or benefits to local communities are arrayed against regional and national economic goals, social concerns generally finish a distant second. Social science research must establish that the effects on human populations alone are significant enough to alter the outcome of the decision process.     

An evaluation of the environmental costs and benefits of conservation tillage

Every production practice, including conservation tillage, has positive or negative environmental consequences that may involve air, land, water, and/or the health and ecological status of wildlife. The negative impacts associated with agricultural production, and the use of conventional tillage systems in particular, include soil erosion, energy use, leaching and runoff of agricultural chemicals, and carbon emissions. Several of these impacts are quantified. The conclusions suggest that the use of conservation tillage does result in less of an adverse impact on the environment from agricultural production than does conventional tillage, because of reduced surface water runoff and wind erosion. Wildlife habitat will be enhanced to some extent with the adoption of conservation tillage. The benefits to be gained from carbon sequestration will depend on the soil remaining undisturbed. Expansion of conservation tillage on highly erodible land will unquestionably result in an increase in social benefits, but the expected gains will be modest.     

Moving from reactive to proactive development planning to conserve Indigenous community and biodiversity values

There is increased awareness of the need to balance multiple societal values in land use and development planning. Best practice has promoted the use of landscape-level conservation planning and application of the ‘mitigation hierarchy’, which focuses on avoiding, minimizing or compensating for impacts of development projects. However, environmental impact assessments (EIA) typically focus in a reactive way on single project footprints with an emphasis on environmental values and specifically biodiversity. This separation may miss opportunities to jointly plan for and manage impacts to both environmental and social values. Integrated approaches may have particular benefit in northern Australia, where Indigenous people have native title to as much as 60% of the land area and cultural values are closely linked with natural values. Here, we present a novel framework for integrating biodiversity and cultural values to facilitate use in EIA processes, using the Nyikina Mangala Native Title Determination Area in the Kimberley, Western Australia, as a case study. We demonstrate 1) how social and cultural values can be organized and analyzed spatially to support mitigation planning, 2) how social, cultural, and biodiversity values may reinforce each other to deliver better conservation outcomes and minimize conflict, and 3) how this information, in the hands of Indigenous communities, provides capacity to proactively assess development proposals and negotiate mitigation measures to conserve social, cultural, and biodiversity values following the mitigation hierarchy. Based on values defined through a Healthy Country Planning process, we developed spatial datasets to represent cultural/heritage sites, freshwater features, common native animals and plants represented by biophysical habitat types, and legally-protected threatened and migratory species represented by potential habitat models. Both cultural/heritage sites and threatened species habitat show a strong thematic and spatial link with freshwater features, particularly the Fitzroy River wetlands. We outline some of the challenges and opportunities of this process and its implications for the Northern Australia development agenda.     

Project risk and appeals in U.S. Forest Service planning

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires U.S. Forest Service planning processes to be conducted by interdisciplinary teams of resource specialists to analyze and disclose the likely environmental impacts of proposed natural resource management actions on Forest Service lands. Multiple challenges associated with these processes have been a source of frustration for the agency. One of these challenges involves administrative appeals through which public entities can challenge a Forest Service decision following a NEPA process. These appeals instigate an internal review process and can result in an affirmation of the Forest Service decision, a reversal of that decision, or additional work that re-initiates all or part of the NEPA process. We examine the best predictors of appeals and their outcomes on a representative sample of 489 Forest Service NEPA processes that were decided between 2007 and 2009. While certain factors associated with pre-existing social contexts (such as a history of controversy) or pre-determined elements of a proposed action (such as the extraction of forest products) predispose certain processes to a higher risk of appeals, other practices and process-related strategies within the control of the agency also appear to bear meaningful influence on the occurrence of appeals and their outcomes. Appeals and their outcomes were most strongly related to programmatic, structural (turnover of personnel in particular), and relationship risks (both internal and external) within the processes, suggesting the need for greater focus within the agency on cultivating positive internal and external relationships to manage the risk of appeals.     

Factors Affecting Participating Farmers’ Willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund: A Study in a Participatory Forest in Bangladesh

This paper examined the factors that might influence participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund (TFF) established for sustainable development of participatory forest management (PFM). Information on willingness-to-pay, socioeconomic characteristics, and attitudes of participating farmers toward TFF were obtained from interviews with 581 participating farmers. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the dominant factors that might influence participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay for the TFF. The results showed that participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay was significantly affected by (i) family income; (ii) education level; (iii) confidence that his aspired benefits will be received; (iv) agreement with the statement that ‘PFM is sustainable under the present state of management’; (v) agreement with the statement that ‘PFM is a good strategy for forest conservation’; and (vi) knowledge of PFM strategies. Thus, participating farmers with a higher level of education, higher income and positive attitudes toward TFF tended to express more willingness-to-pay. Establishment of TFF could be an effective strategy in implementing sustainable PFM in Bangladesh. For this strategy to succeed, however, active partnership between the participating farmers and Forest Department is required. Participating farmers’ attitudes toward TFF should therefore be taken into consideration as should the results of this study, which are important indicators of participating farmers’ positive attitudes toward TFF.