Landscapes must provide food, water, carbon storage, biodiversity protection and rural development stimulation – and they must do it all in one go. If I were a landscape, I’d worry about my stress level. Perhaps it is time to call in a shrink?
We are asking a lot of our landscapes at the Global Landscape Forum, taking place now from 16-17 November, 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. The plenaries and sessions are buzzing with climate-smart agriculture, landscapes policies and smallholder opportunities. Even the younger generation has contributed with an inspiring and strong appeal to get involved in agriculture, proclaiming the sector to be much more than the ‘not-so-sexy backbone of society.’
What’s missing?
The only question I have not yet heard is whether we, as consumers and societies, are willing to change our expectations to relieve the heavy burden on our landscapes. Can we strengthen our landscapes not only through the vital climate change mitigation and resilient management that are among the key topics at the GLF, but also through evidence-based insight into our consumption patterns, food waste and expectations of international food flows and provisions?
This is where I miss the presence, voice and input from social scientists, political scientists, philosophers and other thinkers that have the expertise to guide us through consumer behavior, human psyche and cultural differences. All of these factors influence our views as individuals on the level of commodities we need and the world we wish to build. How much are we willing to ‘shrink’ our consumption for the benefit of our landscapes?
Where do we place our hope?
According to Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), ‘It is in landscapes that we must put our hope,’ speaking today at the opening plenary session. But what about the people? Will our landscapes continuously sustain a growing population without a parallel change in our expectations as to how much we need, and how we distribute, consume and waste food?
I commend the Global Landscape Forum for its integrated approach to forestry, agriculture, gender issues, rural development and policy-bridging. However, in the near future I hope we see an even larger integration of academic disciplines for a holistic approach to global challenges.
We need research questions that not only ask how landscapes can benefit us, but also what we should demand of them and what we might live without.
Almost as an academic experiment, the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) is organizing an international congress next year on sustainability science, with the aim of converging disciplines in the subject area. Experts in agriculture, food security and biodiversity are invited to join the forum of economists and researchers in health, humanities and human ecology coming together to address global challenges and sustainable development.
GLF speakers including Lindiwe Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer of FANPRAN, and José J. Campos, Director General of CATIE, are already on the list of keynotes for this event taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark in October 2014.
Shrinks are welcome.
Blog by Elisabeth Wulffeld (University of Copenhagen), a social reporter for GLF 2013.
Photo: S. Mortellaro
