IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i5p1395-d144128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond Biodiversity Conservation: Land Sharing Constitutes Sustainable Agriculture in European Cultural Landscapes

Author

Listed:
  • Jacqueline Loos

    (Division of Agroecology, Department of Crop Science, Georg-August University Göttingen, Grisebachstrasse 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
    Institute of Ecology, Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

  • Henrik Von Wehrden

    (Institute of Ecology, Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

Abstract

While the academic land sharing–land sparing debate peaked in the recognition that neither strategy alone may offer the best solution to integrate commodity production with biodiversity conservation, the lack of integrating the local realities of people and their cultural landscapes beyond mere biodiversity conservation is hampering the knowledge transfer from our scientific discourse to the policy agenda. Here, we focus on European cultural landscapes, which represent prime examples for the success but also the fragility of social-ecological agricultural systems that benefit from land sharing. In contrast, we challenge the effectiveness of land sparing for sustainable agriculture. Moreover, we question whether and how either sparing or sharing can actually be implemented on the ground. We conclude that creating and maintaining sharing systems nowadays is a normative choice that society can take. Based on this, we caution against the ongoing prioritization of optimizing the economic benefits perceived from such systems. We highlight the limitations of economic instruments to safeguard the multifunctionality of sharing landscapes. Taken together, we suggest that deliberations on the sparing–sharing discussion ought to be moved from a limited perspective on biodiversity towards a holistic consideration of landscapes as spaces that are shaped by and satisfy manifold aspects of human well-being, ranging from cultural to materialistic needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacqueline Loos & Henrik Von Wehrden, 2018. "Beyond Biodiversity Conservation: Land Sharing Constitutes Sustainable Agriculture in European Cultural Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-11, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1395-:d:144128
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1395/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1395/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Howley, 2011. "Landscape aesthetics: Assessing the general publics’ rural landscape preferences," Working Papers 1105, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    2. Fischer, Joern & Abson, David J. & Butsic, Van & Chappell, M. Jahi & Ekroos, Johan & Hanspach, Jan & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Smith, Henrik G. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2014. "Land sparing versus land sharing: Moving forward," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 149-157.
    3. James E. M. Watson & Nigel Dudley & Daniel B. Segan & Marc Hockings, 2014. "The performance and potential of protected areas," Nature, Nature, vol. 515(7525), pages 67-73, November.
    4. Robert B. Gibson, 2006. "Beyond The Pillars: Sustainability Assessment As A Framework For Effective Integration Of Social, Economic And Ecological Considerations In Significant Decision-Making," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(03), pages 259-280.
    5. Desquilbet, Marion & Dorin, Bruno & Couvet, Denis, 2013. "Land sharing vs. land sparing for biodiversity: How agricultural markets make the difference," TSE Working Papers 13-435, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Oct 2015.
    6. Diana Hummel & Thomas Jahn & Florian Keil & Stefan Liehr & Immanuel Stieß, 2017. "Social Ecology as Critical, Transdisciplinary Science—Conceptualizing, Analyzing and Shaping Societal Relations to Nature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Marion Desquilbet & Bruno Dorin & Denis Couvet, 2017. "Land Sharing vs Land Sparing to Conserve Biodiversity: How Agricultural Markets Make the Difference," Post-Print hal-01684020, HAL.
    8. Howley, Peter, 2011. "Landscape aesthetics: Assessing the general publics' preferences towards rural landscapes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 161-169.
    9. Sarah Velten & Julia Leventon & Nicolas Jager & Jens Newig, 2015. "What Is Sustainable Agriculture? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-33, June.
    10. Lars Gamfeldt & Tord Snäll & Robert Bagchi & Micael Jonsson & Lena Gustafsson & Petter Kjellander & María C. Ruiz-Jaen & Mats Fröberg & Johan Stendahl & Christopher D. Philipson & Grzegorz Mikusiński , 2013. "Higher levels of multiple ecosystem services are found in forests with more tree species," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, June.
    11. Daly, Herman E., 1990. "Toward some operational principles of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6, April.
    12. Timmer, C. Peter, 2000. "The macro dimensions of food security: economic growth, equitable distribution, and food price stability," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 283-295, June.
    13. Marion Desquilbet & Bruno Dorin & Denis Couvet, 2016. "Land Sharing vs Land Sparing to Conserve Biodiversity: How Agricultural Markets Make the Difference [land-sharing/land-sparing, comment les marchés font la différence]," Post-Print hal-03948463, HAL.
    14. Adrian Muller & Christian Schader & Nadia El-Hage Scialabba & Judith Brüggemann & Anne Isensee & Karl-Heinz Erb & Pete Smith & Peter Klocke & Florian Leiber & Matthias Stolze & Urs Niggli, 2017. "Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martina Slámová & Alexandra Kruse & Ingrid Belčáková & Johannes Dreer, 2021. "Old but Not Old Fashioned: Agricultural Landscapes as European Heritage and Basis for Sustainable Multifunctional Farming to Earn a Living," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Jiangning Cao & Yasir Ahmed Solangi, 2023. "Analyzing and Prioritizing the Barriers and Solutions of Sustainable Agriculture for Promoting Sustainable Development Goals in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    3. Balázsi, Ágnes & Riechers, Maraja & Hartel, Tibor & Leventon, Julia & Fischer, Joern, 2019. "The impacts of social-ecological system change on human-nature connectedness: A case study from Transylvania, Romania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Durrant, Rachael & Ely, Adrian, 2022. "Deliberative-analytic approaches to Ecosystem Services as a way forward for the land sparing/sharing debate," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Arnott, David & Chadwick, David R. & Wynne-Jones, Sophie & Jones, David L., 2021. "Vulnerability of British farms to post-Brexit subsidy removal, and implications for intensification, extensification and land sparing," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benjamin T. Phalan, 2018. "What Have We Learned from the Land Sparing-sharing Model?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, May.
    2. Loconto, Allison & Desquilbet, Marion & Moreau, Théo & Couvet, Denis & Dorin, Bruno, 2020. "The land sparing – land sharing controversy: Tracing the politics of knowledge," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    3. Desquilbet, Marion & Maigné, Elise & Monier-Dilhan, Sylvette, 2018. "Organic Food Retailing and the Conventionalisation Debate," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 194-203.
    4. Bernhard Dalheimer & Christoph Kubitza & Bernhard Brümmer, 2022. "Technical efficiency and farmland expansion: Evidence from oil palm smallholders in Indonesia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1364-1387, August.
    5. Matzek, Virginia & Wilson, Kerrie A. & Kragt, Marit, 2019. "Mainstreaming of ecosystem services as a rationale for ecological restoration in Australia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 79-86.
    6. Schmidt, Katja & Walz, Ariane & Martín-López, Berta & Sachse, René, 2017. "Testing socio-cultural valuation methods of ecosystem services to explain land use preferences," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 270-288.
    7. Andrzej Greinert & Maria Mrówczyńska, 2020. "The Impact of the Process of Academic Education on Differences in Landscape Perception between the Students of Environmental Engineering and Civil Engineering," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-27, June.
    8. Rolf, Werner & Diehl, Katharina & Zasada, Ingo & Wiggering, Hubert, 2020. "Integrating farmland in urban green infrastructure planning. An evidence synthesis for informed policymaking," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Barbara Sowińska-Świerkosz & Malwina Michalik-Śnieżek, 2020. "The Methodology of Landscape Quality (LQ) Indicators Analysis Based on Remote Sensing Data: Polish National Parks Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Fan, Yubing & McCann, Laura E., 2015. "Households' Adoption of Drought Tolerant Plants: An Adaptation to Climate Change?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205544, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Qindong Fan & Fengtian Du & Hu Li, 2020. "A Study of the Spatial Form of Maling Village, Henan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Rong Fan & Junxi Fan & Jiayu Song & Kaiyuan Li & Wenli Ji, 2021. "Naturalness in the City: Demographic Groups’ Differences in Preference for Deciduous Landscape," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    13. Fedrigotti Valérie Bossi & Troiano Stefania & Fischer Christian & Marangon Francesco, 2020. "Public Preferences for Farmed Landscapes: the Case of Traditional Chestnut Orchards in South Tyrol," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 99-118, March.
    14. Li Cong & Yujun Zhang & Ching-Hui (Joan) Su & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Jinnan Wang, 2019. "Understanding Tourists’ Willingness-to-Pay for Rural Landscape Improvement and Preference Heterogeneity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Matthew Cohen, 2017. "A Systematic Review of Urban Sustainability Assessment Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-16, November.
    16. van Zanten, Boris T. & Verburg, Peter H. & Scholte, S.S.K. & Tieskens, K.F., 2016. "Using choice modeling to map aesthetic values at a landscape scale: Lessons from a Dutch case study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 221-231.
    17. Tanguy Bernard & Sylvie Lambert & Karen Macours & Margaux Vinez, 2023. "Impact of small farmers' access to improved seeds and deforestation in DR Congo," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. O'Donoghue, Cathal & Hynes, Stephen & Kilgarriff, Paul & Ryan, Mary & Tsakiridis, Andreas, 2020. "Assessing preferences for rural landscapes: An attribute based choice modelling approach," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 9(2), August.
    19. Yoshimura, Nobuhiko & Hiura, Tsutom, 2017. "Demand and supply of cultural ecosystem services: Use of geotagged photos to map the aesthetic value of landscapes in Hokkaido," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 68-78.
    20. Allain, Sandrine & Salliou, Nicolas, 2022. "Making differences legible: Incommensurability as a vehicle for sustainable landscape management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1395-:d:144128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.