UNESCO biosphere reserves show demand for multifunctional agriculture.

Sustainable landscape management of protected areas in UNESCO-biosphere reserves (BR) has become an increasingly important topic for academics and environmental practitioners, yet it remains unclear how this can be operationalized in actual regional circumstances. To achieve positive and measurable sustainability impacts, effective BR management on the ground requires supplementary methods to conceive the unique territorial, political, economic and social characteristics of each case while also considering the needs and visions of different stakeholder groups. In this study, we used the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) to assess future projections of current land management strategies and possible alternatives in five BR in Germany. The FoPIA method helped identify major differences in the regional BR contexts, including defining the sustainability problem and sustainability challenges. It also proved suitable for fostering stakeholder dialog with regard to current and future sustainable land use management, particularly for the BR transition zones. Our results predict multiple negative impacts resulting from of a continuation of current practices, which are compared against the assessed outcomes of alternative multifunctional pathways. We use these findings to discuss recommendations and challenges for sustainable management of biosphere reserves, the potential of implementing the FoPIA in BR, and perspectives for further research needs.

Regional impact assessment of land use scenarios in developing countries using the FoPIA approach: findings from five case studies.

The impact of land use changes on sustainable development is of increasing interest in many regions of the world. This study aimed to test the transferability of the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA), which was originally developed in the European context, to developing countries, in which lack of data often prevents the use of data-driven impact assessment methods. The core aspect of FoPIA is the stakeholder-based assessment of alternative land use scenarios. Scenario impacts on regional sustainability are assessed by using a set of nine regional land use functions (LUFs), which equally cover the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The cases analysed in this study include (1) the alternative spatial planning policies around the Merapi volcano and surrounding areas of Yogyakarta City, Indonesia; (2) the large-scale afforestation of agricultural areas to reduce soil erosion in Guyuan, China; (3) the expansion of soil and water conservation measures in the Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia; (4) the agricultural intensification and the potential for organic agriculture in Bijapur, India; and (5) the land degradation and land conflicts resulting from land division and privatisation in Narok, Kenya. All five regions are characterised by population growth, partially combined with considerable economic development, environmental degradation problems and social conflicts. Implications of the regional scenario impacts as well as methodological aspects are discussed. Overall, FoPIA proved to be a useful tool for diagnosing regional human-environment interactions and for supporting the communication and social learning process among different stakeholder groups.

Participatory impact assessment of soil and water conservation scenarios in Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia.

Environmental threats and progressive degradation of natural resources are considered critical impediments to sustainable development. This paper reports on a participatory impact assessment of alternative soil and water conservation (SWC) scenarios in the Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia. The first objective was to assess the impact of three SWC scenarios on key social, economic and environmental land use functions. The second objective was to test and evaluate the applicability of the 'Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA)' for assessing scenario impacts in the context of a developing country, in this case Tunisia. The assessed scenarios included: the originally planned SWC policy implementation at 85 % coverage of arable land of the watershed, the current implementation (70 %), and a hypothetical expansion of SWC measures to the entire watershed (100 %). Our results suggest that implementation of the SWC policy at 100 % coverage of arable land achieves the maximum socioeconomic benefit. However, if stakeholders' preferences regarding land use functions are taken into account, and considering the fact that the implementation of SWC measures also implies some negative changes to traditional landscapes and the natural system, SWC implementation at 85 % coverage of arable land might be preferable. The FoPIA approved to be a useful tool for conducting a holistic sustainability impact assessment of SWC scenarios and for studying the most intriguing sustainability problems while providing possible recommendations towards sustainable development. We conclude that participatory impact assessment contributes to an enhanced regional understanding of key linkages between policy effects and sustainable development, which provides the foundation for improved policy decision making.