Managing telecoupled landscapes

The debate about Sustainable Development Goals following the United Nations “Rio+20” reveals the difficulty of simultaneously addressing social and economic development challenges and the degradation of Earth’s life support systems. Land systems in the humid tropics illustrate these challenges prominently. Local people’s land use strategies are facing competition from large-scale land acquisition, logging etc., but also biodiversity conservation. Remote decision-makers reshape flows of ecosystem services to their benefit, whereas the consequences hardly reach them. Land change scientists have recently conceptualized this phenomenon under the term “telecoupling”. Our research project within the Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development (r4d programme) pursues the overall goal of devising and testing innovative strategies and institutional arrangements for securing ecosystem service flows and human well-being in and between telecoupled landscapes at study sites in Laos, Myanmar, and Madagascar.

News and Events

How Context Affects Transdisciplinary Research

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) helps fostering people's capabilities to realize sustainability transformations. Researchers from the global North have largely coined its principles and methods, and their contextual conditions are reflected in their work. Yet TDR is often applied in the global South, where the contexts may be very different. Based on the analysis of six case studies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the authors show that for this reason, implementing TDR can be a challenging endeavour. They make a stand for pragmatic adaptations as well as more fundamental reflection on underlying epistemological concepts around what it means to conduct "good science".

Dreams of Myanmar Farmers

What are the dreams of farmers in Southern Myanmar? Scientists from the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, and the Environmental Care and Community Security Institute (ECCSi) in Myanmar asked small-scale farmers this very question. They got clear answers: access to microfinances, a climate-smart agriculture, and assuring the ownership of the ancestral land tenure. Watch the video and learn more about the dreams of the farmers – and how they could get realized.

Impacts of protected areas and a cash crop boom on human well-being

This study delved into the implications that protected areas for forest conservation and a recent price spike for vanilla have had for the well-being of people in four villages in northeast Madagascar. It explores these dynamics by looking at how the multiple dimensions of well-being relate to each other, and what is the significance of natural resources for local populations beyond material values.

Factors enhancing the level of utilisation of research knowledge on ecosystems

Although there is considerable investment in ecosystem research for development in the Global South, this does not necessarily lead to a high level of utilisation of this knowledge. In this synthesis paper of the r4d programme, the authors argue for the inclusion of non-academic members of the project team in project design, management and dissemination to improve the use of research knowledge.

Between a rock and a hard place

Shifting cultivators increasingly need to navigate a context of risk, squeezed between increased landscape flammability and prohibitive fire policy. In this open access paper including insights from our Madagascar case study, we highlight environmental justice issues.

New video: Diversifying farming systems in northeastern Madagascar

Research results from the R4D telecoupling project have shown that the livelihoods of farmers in northeastern Madagascar strongly depend on cash crops such as vanilla and cloves. To meet the challenges presented by these research findings, the regional Project Steering Committee CROP decided to implement the action "training of model farmers for the diversification of farming systems". The video presents first results of this action.

Land acquisitions and human well-being in Lao PDR

This new study by our PhD candidate Vong Nanhthavong is among the first to provide country-scale evidence on the well-being effects of land acquisitions. It concludes: “Land acquisitions as a general approach for rural development in Lao PDR are not effective, as most do not contribute to local well-being.” And: “Employments generated by land acquisitions can become an important cash source, but alone are not sufficient to improve well-being, making it essential to also maintain traditional livelihoods.” So, to avoid adverse impacts, land-use rights should be protected, large-scale deals avoided.

Creating leadership collectives for sustainability transformations

Enduring sustainability challenges requires a new model of collective leadership that embraces critical reflection, inclusivity and care. Leadership collectives can support a move in academia from metrics to merits, from a focus on career to care, and enact a shift from disciplinary to inter- and transdisciplinary research. Find out more in these paper by Julie G. Zaehringer and colleagues!

Balancing conservation and cash cropping in Madagascar

In north-eastern Madagascar, the competing interests of conservationists, actors participating in cash-crop value chains, and local farmers put pressure on local land resources. This is one of the key messages from our Telecoupled Landscape Brief on Madagascar. Read the two-page brief to find out more about our project insights and policy implications!

Economic Development and Smallholder Agency in Lao PDR

Telecoupled Landscapes Briefs present highlights and policy implications from research and practical work conducted in our project. In our Laos Brief, we discuss the livelihood impacts of land use transitions for smallholder farmers and share recommendations regarding land use policies. Check out our key messages!

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