Contrasting visions of food and farming sustainability: NGOs versus the UK Labour government

In a previous issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology I described how competing visions of sustainable agriculture are currently battling for hegemonic status (Johnson 2006). One vision seeks to break the hegemony of productionism and the other seeks to continue down its path with a greater emphasis on biotechnology. In this paper, I wish to explore these visions further as they apply to actual existing strategies for sustainable farming and food in the UK. This paper uses discourse analysis to compare the UK government's vision for sustainable farming and food sectors with that of two NGOs: Friends of the Earth and Corporate Watch. The language and discourse in the government's and NGOs' strategy documents is examined for evidence indicating their ideological conception of agricultural sustainability. The paper concludes that, whilst the NGOs are pursuing a strong vision of sustainability, seeking to break productionism's hegemony, the UK government is pursuing an ideologically weak-tomoderate conceptualisation of sustainability, pursuing the high-technology modified version of agricultural productionism.     

Identification of agricultural factors for improving sustainable land resource management in northern Thailand: A case study in Chiang Mai Province

This paper aims to identify the land-use factors benefiting sustainable land management in terms of environmental conservation. For evaluating the impacts of land use on the environment, the following parameters were used: chemical fertiliser and pesticide use, land-use structure and diversity. The farmers' income, land tenure and farming scale were selected for their influence on agricultural sustainability. The analysis shows a rapid increase in use of chemical fertiliser and pesticide in the past 40 years, and an observable increase in land-use diversity. The amount of chemical fertiliser used per unit area in large-scale farming was lower than that at small scales, but large-scale farming consumes more pesticide than small-scale farming. A significant negative correlation was observed between the proportions of the holdings possessing land and the holdings using the chemical fertiliser. In order to achieve sustainable agriculture, it is necessary to manage crop systems and land use towards selecting new strains and varieties of crops and fruits with a lower demand for chemical fertiliser and a higher resistance to disease and pests, balancing large- and small-scale farming, and ensuring land tenure and economic incentives.     

Evaluation for sustainable land use in coastal areas: A landscape ecological prospect

Evaluation of sustainability is the core of research on sustainable land use. To a certain extent, traditional social, economic and ecological evaluation for sustainable land use can be regarded as an appraisal on the temporal scale without evaluation of spatial patterns. Landscape ecology can help to realize spatial evaluation for sustainable land use. In this paper, we construct landscape ecological indicators for evaluating sustainable coastal land use from the aspects of landscape productivity, threats and stability, to realize a synthetic temporal-spatial evaluation. These cover the five pillars of sustainable land use, i.e. productivity, security, protection, viability and acceptability. The results of applying landscape ecological evaluation to a case study in Wudi County in China show that land use sustainability is somewhat low and there are great regional differences between its 11 villages. We classified the 11 villages into 5 grades: strong sustainable land use, sustainable land use, weak sustainable land use, weak unsustainable land use, and strong unsustainable land use. Each grade has different land use characteristics and differs in the counter-measures required. But the core countermeasures in all the grades are to improve landscape productivity, to reduce human threats and to optimize landscape patterns.     

Multi-scale sustainability evaluation of natural resource management systems: Quantifying indicators for different scales of analysis and their trade-offs using linear programming

The purposes of this paper are: (a) to describe a framework designed for multi-scale sustainability evaluation of Natural Resource Management Systems (NRMS), and (b) to illustrate its application for quantitative analysis using linear programming. The framework described here is intended to contribute to the operationalisation of the concept of sustainability by supporting the processes of design, evaluation and implementation of alternative NRMS at different scales. In this paper, Linear Programming is used for the quantitative analysis of indicators and their trade-offs; using a schematised example, the basic characteristics of the Multi-scale Multiple Goal Linear Programming (M-MGLP) method are described. In M-MGLP, indicators pertaining to different scales of analysis can be set as objectives or constraints for the optimisation. In this way, stakeholders interacting in a specific region can be made aware of the consequences of alternative NRMS in terms of the different indicators at the same scale and/or for indicators at other scales of analysis. The paper ends with a discussion of the main strengths and limitations of the framework and, specifically, of linear programming.     

Under the shadow of Asian Brown Clouds: Unbalanced regional productivities in China and environmental concerns

China has seen rapid economic growth over the past two decades, but severe environmental problems have accompanied this, such as the looming danger of Asian Brown Clouds. This paper analyzes the regional development of China by examining economic performance and environmental factors. Technical efficiency and productivity changes in 31 regions of China are computed for the period 1997–2001. In the case of regional GDP, the fast-developing eastern (coastal) regions experience higher technical efficiency and productivity growth than the inland central and western regions. When environmental factors are incorporated, the eastern regions still perform better than inland regions, both from static and dynamic analysis. This phenomenon is termed the 'double deterioration' of the inland areas in China. Double deterioration is attributed to the lack of economic resources to replace highly-polluting production equipment and technology in those less developed regions.     

Sustainable development as freedom

There has been considerable debate about how best to define sustainable development. In this commentary, I argue that Amartya Sen's concept of 'development as freedom' is the appropriate theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development. Environmentalists should consider defining their goal as 'sustainable development as freedom,' the achievement of the greatest possible level of freedom without restricting the access of future generations to these same freedoms. The adoption of this framework has implications for the work of environmental NGOs, which are briefly discussed.     

Sustainable shrimp fishery management recommendations for a coastal lagoon in Baja California Sur,Mexico

The Baja California Peninsula is considered México's most productive in terms of commercial fisheries. Very few quantitative assessments of the economic importance of this region exist, especially considering artisanal fisheries and their relationships with ecological data. Datasets from government records on shrimp capture in Magdalena Bay, an arid coastal lagoon of Baja California Sur were collected, analysed and correlated with ecological data. Over the 10-year period analysed, fisheries from Magdalena Bay made up 27.5% of the shrimp capture of the state, contributing over US$15.5 million to the economy of the country. The impressive value of this resource warrants considerable attention in the design of land-use plans for the future of the region. Analysis of ecological and economical data on shrimp fishery activities in the Magdalena Bay region enables us to propose recommendations to enhance the sustainable development of the local inhabitants. A thorough assessment of the potential value of alternative economic activities should be conducted to determine their potential to provide similar productive use of the natural resources of the region as the shrimp fishery. Also, from a more specific management viewpoint, harvest rates of small shrimp in the channels should be reduced.     

A GIS-based model for rating natural protection areas according to natural protection priorities

There has been a major urban shift of population in Turkey over the last century. Most people lived in rural areas until 1960, but now more than half live in urban areas. This trend has continued over the last 20 years, as families moved further away from city centres to find houses in the country, and this has caused land use to change rapidly. In decision-making studies to protect nature areas, rating and assessment of ecological data by scientific verification is difficult due to the huge volume and diversity of data. Therefore, the search for the most suitable and applicable method to achieve physical planning based on ecological understanding has been sought. The necessity for numerous parameters to be taken into account has stimulated the use of geographic information systems (GIS). This study assesses the usefulness of a GIS-based model in the protected area of Kaynaklar County, to the south of the city of Izmir. Existing cultural and natural land-use types, as well as soil, hydrologic, geologic and geomorphologic data layers (future classes) were gathered from field observation and using Landsat and IKONOS satellite images, and transferred to a database according to GIS rules. Index values were determined by taking impact on attributes of natural protection as a priority and these were attached to each feature class. Layers of data were merged by spatial intersection methods and new polygons were created for both cultural and natural features. A three-grade final map of the study area was generated using total index values of each new polygon.     

Integrated effects of slope aspect and land use on soil nutrients in a small catchment in a hilly loess area,China

This study addressed the integrated effect of slope aspect and land use on soil nutrients in a loess hilly catchment in the western Loess Plateau of China. Soil samples were collected from five land-use types: wasteland, cropland, woodland, shrubland and abandoned cropland, at two depths (0–20 and 20–40 cm) in the middle slope position of both north-facing and south-facing slopes. Soil nutrient changes and the relationships between soil nutrients and slope aspect were investigated, based on statistical analysis and expert knowledge. Soil organic matter, total N, total P, nitrate nitrogen and available K of the 0–20 cm soil layer differed significantly between land uses and slope aspects. Soil nutrients in the north-facing slope were better than in the south-facing slope. Revegetation has an enrichment effect, especially on soil organic matter, total N, total P, nitrate nitrogen and available K. Planting of trees, shrubs and grasses could improve soil fertility and favours a policy of revegetation and sustainable land use in the hilly loess area of China. Conversion of slope farmlands into more sustainable land uses, such as shrubland or grassland is a cost-efficient way to achieve soil conservation and ecological restoration. Terracing and the use of agro-techniques for soil conservation, such as furrow-ridging tillage and leaving crop residues on fields, can increase the input of C to soils. Growing crops in rotation with alfalfa and beans could be a promising choice for the sustainability of agriculture and the environment.     

Socio-environmental co-evolution: some ideas for an analytical approach

A number of scholars, mainly in ecological economics, have been attracted to the concept of co-evolution for the analysis of socio-environmental change. Yet none has adopted and developed an applied analytical approach using an explicitly evolutionary framework. This paper discusses how other scholars in economics, technological studies, organization and political science have been using evolutionary explanations and draws some lessons for ecological economics. Evolutionary is a mode of explanation based on the selective retention of renewable variation. It accounts for phenomena of structural fit and change in a variety of domains. A co-evolutionary explanation, by extension, entails two or more evolving systems whose interaction affects their evolution. Socio-environmental co-evolution involves human systems (material practices and non-material ideas and values) and non-human systems (living and physical). The challenge then is how to develop case-specific, empirical applications that define and elaborate the variants that co-evolve and specify the processes of mutual selection. Applications could benefit from existing classifications and causal propositions in the natural and social sciences. Co-evolution is part of a larger analytical toolkit for looking at complex socio-environmental problems. Although distinct, there are strong synergies, complementarities and potential for combined uses between co-evolutionary, co-dynamic and complexity-based explanations.