Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie und Tropenbiologie

Farms4Biodiversity

FARMS4Biodiversity: Farmer-led Agroecological Research in Malawi using Scenarios for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

FARMS4Biodiversity is an ambitious, interdisciplinary, multi-scalar project designed to address biodiversity conservation, support ecosystem services and improve food security under scenarios of land-use change in the Global South.

With funding from Belmont Forum, BiodivERsA, and the EU (among others listed below), we are proud to join an impressive list of research partners asking:

  • Can agreocological practices buffer against the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Malawi?
  • Are there breakpoints of adoption above which biodiversity is best retained?
  • Do social roles and forces influence agroecological adoption and resilience in Malawian smallholder farming households/communities?
  • Can participatory scenario planning enhance long-term community resilience and bioviersity?
  • Do new institutional and policy frameworks facilitate agroecologial practice adoption to support biodiversity?

The complete proposal consists of four interrelated work packages :

WP1: Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
WP2: Community Social Dynamics
WP3: Participatory Scenario Planning
WP4: Innovative Platforms and Stakeholder Engagement

Additional funding for FARMS4Biodiversity is provided by: NSF, The research council of Norway, NSEC CRSNG, BMBF.