Biodiversity Business: Balancing ecologic and economic needs of coffee farmers in Peru
This project aims to develop knowledge supporting further development of pro-biodiversity enterprises and to evaluate the contribution of these enterprises to sustainable development. Strategies aiming at reconciling biodiversity conservation and agricultural production are needed, which are sought in the context of sustainable development and multifunctional land use in rural landscapes.Focus of the study is on coffee agroforestry systems as a form of biodiversity-friendly agriculture, both on farm and landscape level. To analyse the trade-offs between conservation and local development, both biodiversity and socio-economic data are collected on small-scale coffee plantations in Peru. Besides biodiversity, ecosystem services such as carbon storage, micro-climate regulation and pest control are analysed, also on landscape level. With these data we discuss the potential economic and ecological benefits along a gradient of management intensification, and provide recommendations for sustainable plantation management.
The project is carried out by Rosalien Jezeer MSc. in collaboration with Dr. Pita Verweij, and Prof. dr. René Boot; and is funded by Hivos and Utrecht University
