Rehabilitating ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes through agroecological management practices
The intensification of agricultural practices and the simplification of agricultural landscapes have been driving the degradation of ecosystem services worldwide. This project aims to identify agricultural management practices that can rehabilitate ecosystem services while providing economic returns that are able to compete with conventional management practices.
Together with the Commonland Foundation and farmers association AlVelAl the project supports Spanish almond farmers in the transition towards more environmentally friendly practices. The project also collaborates with the Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) to investigate how a group of coffee farmers that have decided to plant shade providing trees above their coffee plants may contribute to the rehabilitation of ecosystem services without compromising on their incomes.
The outcomes of these studies provide valuable information on the environmental and economic impact of agroecological management transitions, as well as insights on how ecosystem services behave through time under instability in land management.
This project is carried out by Vincent De Leijster MSc in collaboration with Dr. Pita Verweij, Prof. Martin Wassen and Dr. Maria Santos and is funded by the NWO graduate program titled ‘Nature Conservation Management and Restoration’.
