Afronding Ecosysteemdiensten en Innovatie in ketenverduurzaming (WOT-04-011-036.75, WOT-04-010-036.37, WOT-04-010-036.16, WOT-04-011-036.12)

Natural resource management at the local level is undergoing changes due to the call for integrated, adaptive and multi-stakeholder approaches that simultaneously target climate change, food security, sustainable livelihoods and provision of environmental services at the landscape scale. Some of these integrated approaches are linked to value chain collaborations, in recognition that sustainable commodity supply requires resilient farming systems and investments ‘beyond the chain’ in farmers’ livelihoods and sustainable food production. However, most integrated approaches are still largely experimental and their institutional arrangements little researched. The special issue of Environmental Management aims to address this gap. It explores whether and how existing and new institutions within the landscape can be merged into new governance configurations for greater synergy, how this plays out on the autonomy and livelihoods of small-scale producers and local communities, and what role bridging organizations can play in building new stakeholder coalitions. In this project a scientific article will be published, based on two WOt studies on integrating ecosystem services into international value chains (tropical timber, cocoa, soy and palm oil).