Integrating Farmland and Landscape Strategies to Balance Nutrition, Food Production and Environmental Sustainability in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam.

Smallholder farmers in the mountainous northern uplands of Vietnam face interconnected challenges of malnutrition, rural poverty, and environmental degradation. This PhD research investigates how Nature-Positive Agriculture (NPA) can improve nutrition, food production, and environment degradation at both farm and landscape level. The study analyses trade-offs and synergies between nutritional outcomes, farm productivity and income, and key environmental indicators across smallholder farming systems and regions. To do this, this research uses an integrated Nutrition-Economy-Environment (NEE) approach as a tool to assess and redesign farming systems. Survey-based NEE indicators are developed to characterise diverse farming households in terms of nutrition, livelihoods, and environmental performance. Representative farms selected were divided into groups according to these three dimensions from each category are then explored with the Farm DESIGN model using multi-objective optimization to identify NPA management strategies that can enhance food productivity and diet quality, increase farmer incomes, and reduce environmental pressures. At the landscape level, the Landscape IMAGES model will be used to simulate spatial scenarios that strengthen ecological connectivity and scale-up NPA practices across the region. By linking household, farm, and landscape analyses, the research provides an integrated assessment on how NPA can contribute to food security, livelihoods, and ecosystem resilience in multifunctional smallholder landscapes. The findings are intended to inform evidence-based policies and planning for sustainable agricultural development and agroecological transitions in northern Vietnam and similar smallholder regions.