Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Nature-Based Solutions or Corporate Plantation Enclosures?The establishment of monoculture forest plantations is often put forward as a “nature-based solution” for climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration, as well as adaptation benefits, but there is extensive scientific literature showing negative social and environmental impacts, particularly for Indigenous groups and other rural people reliant on the land.34,35 Rapidly growing nonnative species are often planted closely together with high levels of fertilizer and other inputs applied to enhance growth. Short-term greenhouse gas emissions result from this strategy, as well as long-term negative biodiversity and ecosystem impacts.3636 K. F. Davis et al., “Tropical Forest Loss Enhanced by Large-Scale Land Acquisitions,” Nature Geoscience 13, no. 7 (2020): 482–88, doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0592-3. Social impacts are also well documented.3737 A. Scheidel and C. Work, “Forest Plantations and Climate Change Discourses: New Powers of ‘Green’ Grabbing in Cambodia,” Land Use Policy 77 (2018): 9–18, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.057. M. F. Olwig, C. Noe, R. Kangalawe, and E. Luoga, “Inverting the Moral Economy: The Case of Land Acquisitions for Forest Plantations in Tanzania, “Third World Quarterly 6597 (2016), doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1078231. C. Richards and K. Lyons, “The New Corporate Enclosures: Plantation Forestry, Carbon Markets and the Limits of Financialised Solutions to the Climate Crisis,” Land Use Policy 56 (2016): 209–16, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.05.013. In Tanzania, for example, foreign land acquisitions leading to the establishment of monoculture forest plantations have worsened the livelihoods of rural producers, while narratives about these acquisitions have fostered the notion of green carbon investment success stories.3838 Olwig et al., note 37.Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?All authorsRachel Wynberg , Michel Pimbert , Nina Moeller , Georgina McAllister , Rachel Bezner Kerr , Jasber Singh , Million Belay & Mvuselelo Ngcoyahttps://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2023.2146944Published online:11 January 2023Monoculture plantations may be seen as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration, but growing evidence shows negative social and environmental impacts.Display full sizeMonoculture plantations may be seen as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration, but growing evidence shows negative social and environmental impacts.Nature-Based Solutions to Cope With Water Scarcity in KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaInnovative nature-based solutions have long been developed by farmers across the world to cope with low rainfall, drought, and steep lands. In the Ingwavuma District of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the Lindizwe Agroecology Farming Group has worked with the nongovernment organization Biowatch South Africa to introduce swales to catch runoff water to maintain plots for multiplying seed. Planting basins are dug to intercept the water flowing down the slope and scarce, available biomass is concentrated in these basins to provide the seed with extra care and protection. Several seeds of grains, legumes, and pumpkins are planted together in each hole. Corinne Mngomezulu, a Lindizwe member, experimented and further innovated by making the planting basins larger. These are dug well into the second soil horizon. Maize and pearl millet stalks are placed in the pit bottoms and are then overlain with layers of “kraal” manure, soil, and compost, before being capped with a protective layer of maize and pearl millet mulch. Over the summer season these grow into a tangled and productive carpet of companion plants, shielding the soil to conserve moisture and build soil fertility. These are vital innovations on this very dry and rocky escarpment.Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?All authorsRachel Wynberg , Michel Pimbert , Nina Moeller , Georgina McAllister , Rachel Bezner Kerr , Jasber Singh , Million Belay & Mvuselelo Ngcoyahttps://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2023.2146944Published online:11 January 2023An aerial view of the fenced fields of the Lindizwe Agroecology Farming Group in Ingwavuma. From the air the checkerboard pattern of the planting basins is visible. These have been carefully mulched to conserve precious water in this dry and rocky escarpment.Display full sizeAn aerial view of the fenced fields of the Lindizwe Agroecology Farming Group in Ingwavuma. From the air the checkerboard pattern of the planting basins is visible. These have been carefully mulched to conserve precious water in this dry and rocky escarpment.Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?All authorsRachel Wynberg , Michel Pimbert , Nina Moeller , Georgina McAllister , Rachel Bezner Kerr , Jasber Singh , Million Belay & Mvuselelo Ngcoyahttps://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2023.2146944Published online:11 January 2023The sloping seed plots of the Lindizwe Agroecology Farming Group in Ingwavuma.Display full sizeThe sloping seed plots of the Lindizwe Agroecology Farming Group in Ingwavuma.Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?All authorsRachel Wynberg , Michel Pimbert , Nina Moeller , Georgina McAllister , Rachel Bezner Kerr , Jasber Singh , Million Belay & Mvuselelo Ngcoyahttps://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2023.2146944Published online:11 January 2023Large planting basins for agroecological and drought-tolerant plant species.Display full sizeLarge planting basins for agroecological and drought-tolerant plant species.The astonishing diversity of seed in Corinne Mngomezulu’s household seed bank includes several farmer varieties of maize; the small grains sorghum and pearl millet; legumes, which are key to food security and soil fertility; and traditional Zulu melon and pumpkin varieties. Peanuts are seen stored in traditional clay pots sealed with cow dung. Peanuts are a staple traditional dish in the area, and are used in place of oil.Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?All authorsRachel Wynberg , Michel Pimbert , Nina Moeller , Georgina McAllister , Rachel Bezner Kerr , Jasber Singh , Million Belay & Mvuselelo Ngcoyahttps://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2023.2146944Published online:11 January 2023Several seeds of maize are planted in each basin, and after a couple of weeks are interplanted with legumes and cucurbits.Display full sizeSeveral seeds of maize are planted in each basin, and after a couple of weeks are interplanted with legumes and cucurbits.Additional informationNotes on contributorsRachel WynbergRachel Wynberg is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she holds a national Bioeconomy Research Chair. She has advised African governments, civil society organizations, and international agencies on biodiversity policy over the past 30 years, and is currently a member of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy Expert Group and a lead author for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Sustainable Use assessment. Michel Pimbert is a professor of agroecology and food politics and the director of the Research Institute for Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (RISER) at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. He is a former member of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition in the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (HPLE). Nina Isabella Moeller is an associate professor of political ecology and people’s knowledge at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) and has worked in Latin America and Europe—both as an academic and as a consultant to indigenous federations, NGOs, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Georgina McAllister is an assistant professor in stabilization agriculture at CAWR and has spent the past 30 years as a humanitarian and development practitioner and, more recently, as an academic, working on smallholder farming systems with farming organizations and networks. Rachel Bezner Kerr is a professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, with her participatory research centered in Africa on agroecology, gender, climate change adaptation, food, and nutrition security. She is a coordinating lead author for chapter 5 (“the food chapter” of the 2022 IPCC Working Group II report on climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation. She was co-author of a 2019 report on agroecology for the HPLE. Jasber Singh is an associate professor at CAWR, with research centered on social and environmental justice. Million Belay is the coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a broad alliance of civil society actors working to promote food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa, and is also a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). Mvuselelo Ngcoya is an associate professor in the School of Built Environment and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and a practicing agroecological farmer.The British Council is kindly acknowledged for inspiring this collaboration through the Researcher Links Climate Challenge Fund. RW was supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa. Author contributions: Conceptualization: all. Funding acquisition: RW, MP, GM, NM. Writing: original draft, RW, MP; review and editing, all. The authors declare no competing interests.Notes1 High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, Coalition Launch at the One Planet Summit, https://www.hacfornatureandpeople.org/home (accessed 21 July 2022).2 P. R. Shukla et al., eds, “Summary for Policymakers,” in Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (Geneva, Switzerland: International Panel on Climate Change, 2019), https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2020/02/SPM_Updated-Jan20.pdf.3 T. Iseman and F. 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Stabinsky, “Nature-Based Solutions” and the Biodiversity and Climate Crises (Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, 2021), https://twn.my/title2/briefing_papers/twn/NBS%20TWNBP%20Sep%202020%20Stabinsky.pdf (accessed 21 July 2022).8 International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN Global Standard for NbS, https://www.iucn.org/theme/nature-based-solutions/resources/iucn-global-standard-nbs (accessed 21 July 2022); Nature-Based Solutions Initiative, Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change, https://nbsguidelines.info (accessed 21 July 2022).9 The European Commission, Nature-Based Solutions: Nature-Based Solutions and How the Commission Defines Them, Funding, Collaboration and Jobs, Projects, Results and Publications, https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/environment/nature-based-solutions_en (accessed 21 July 2022).10 E. Cohen-Shacham, G. Walters, C. Janzen, and S. 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Isakson, Speculative Harvests: Financialization, Food and Agriculture (Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing, 2018).15 M. Saturnino, J. Borras, R. Hall, I. Scoones, B. White, and W. Wolford, “Towards a Better Understanding of Global Land Grabbing: An Editorial Introduction,” Journal of Peasant Studies 38, no. 2 (2011): 209–16,doi:10.1080/03066150.2011.559005.16 Total Energy, Total Adopts a New Climate Ambition to Get to Net Zero by 2050 (5 May 2020), https://totalenergies.com/media/news/total-adopts-new-climate-ambition-get-net-zero-2050.17 Nestlé, Our Road to Net Zero, https://www.nestle.com/csv/global-initiatives/zero-environmental-impact/climate-change-net-zero-roadmap.18 Bayer, This Is How We Protect the Climate (2021), https://www.bayer.com/en/sustainability/climate-protection.19 However, many of these certificates are cheap and unverifiable, with resource efficiency formulations often hiding the fact that reduction performance internally is negligibly small. See https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/umweltschutz-wie-sich-konzerne-co2-arm-rechnen-a-40a806bb-0002-0001-0000-000177879114.20 P. M. Rosset and M. A. Altieri, Agroecology Science and Politics (Rugby, UK: Practical Action, and Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing, 2017).21 High Level Panel of Experts, Agroecological and Other Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems That Enhance Food Security and Nutrition, a report by the HLPE on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (Italy, Rome, 2019), http://www.fao.org/3/ca5602en/ca5602en.pdf.22 M. P. Pimbert, N. I. Moeller, J. Singha, and C. R. Anderson, “Agroecology,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.298.23 I. Perfecto, J. Vandermeer, and A. Wright, Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty (London: Earthscan/Routledge, 2009).24 F. 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Koch, “Regenerate Natural Forests to Store Carbon,” Nature 568, no. 7750 (2019): 25–28.35 R. Bezner Kerr, T. Hasegawa, R. Lasco, I. Bhatt, et al., “D: Food, Fibre, and Other Ecosystem Products,” in H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, M. Tignor, and E. S. Poloczanska, eds., Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2022).36 K. F. Davis et al., “Tropical Forest Loss Enhanced by Large-Scale Land Acquisitions,” Nature Geoscience 13, no. 7 (2020): 482–88, doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0592-3.37 A. Scheidel and C. Work, “Forest Plantations and Climate Change Discourses: New Powers of ‘Green’ Grabbing in Cambodia,” Land Use Policy 77 (2018): 9–18, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.057. M. F. Olwig, C. Noe, R. Kangalawe, and E. Luoga, “Inverting the Moral Economy: The Case of Land Acquisitions for Forest Plantations in Tanzania, “Third World Quarterly 6597 (2016), doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1078231. C. Richards and K. Lyons, “The New Corporate Enclosures: Plantation Forestry, Carbon Markets and the Limits of Financialised Solutions to the Climate Crisis,” Land Use Policy 56 (2016): 209–16, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.05.013.38 Olwig et al., note 37.