action 3Socio economic, policy and environmental levers for long-term soil C sequestration at the territory level
What are the impacts of patterns of C and nutrient fluxes, social arrangements and public policy on long-term soil C sequestration at the village and territory scale.
3.1: Inventory and simulation of carbon and nutrient fluxes at the landscape scale in study sites of Sub Saharan Africa
Main Objectif : To identify a combination of C sequestration strategies without negatively affecting the GHG balance of the landscape (C neutral landscapes).
Specific Objectives : To quantify biomass and nutrients fluxes between landscape units and households types
To build a multi-scalar representation of carbon dynamics (from plot to territorial scale) in each study zone
To simulate different landscape configurations and the combination of several strategies at different scales (built in WP4), taking into account the trans-scalar effects of this combination
Materials and Methods : Observations and household surveys to determine biomass and nutrient flows will be used on each site (Audouin 2014).
Diverse spatial explicit models: the TERROIR model in SN (Grillot et al.), the Ambawa model (Diarisso et al. 2015) and the dynamics of Tuy province with the Ocelet plateform in BF (Jahel et al. 2017), will be reused and completed with information collected in other WPs to simulate the consequences of different landscape and communities configurations on C and nutrient fluxes. The integration of soil-plant mechanistic models developed by WP1 and farm models developed in WP2 will be tested.
Indicators at different land units and at the whole village scale of C sequestration defined in WP4 and resulting from global and local considerations will be calculated.
3.2: Social, institutional, and economic context potentially driving C fluxes and sequestration
Main Objectif : To provide description of the socio-economic and institutional characteristics of the landscape
Specific Objectives :
To identify the social economic contexts that have the potential to drive or inhibit changes in farming practices that increase C storage in soils.
To identify institutional factors (eg norms, tenure systems, informal laws, bye laws, incentive systems) that are supporting and inhibiting changes in farming practices to increase C storage in soils.
To identify the current policy instruments (agricultural policies, NRM policies, etc) that are likely to support and/or constrain the necessary changes in farming practices to increase C storage in soils.
Materials and Methods : This activity will be done during the first year of the project. Key behavioral indicators will be identified and their changes tracked during the course of project implementation. Literature reviews and surveys including all stakeholders will be led on each site. Country level symposia will be used to share research findings. The symposia will be attended by academia, government research and extension officers from relevant government ministry.
CONTACT:Kefasi Nyikahadzoi - knyika[@]gmail.com - Social Science UZ
3.3: Innovative policy instruments to trigger the necessary changes in farming practices that increase C storage in soils
Main Objectif : To characterize the type of policy instruments that could favor SCS practices to a level closer to the social optimal level.
Specific Objectives : To review the efficiency of policies for agricultural soil C sequestration from an economic point of view
To identify economic barriers and levers for soil C sequestration in the context of each site
To ex ante evaluate of alternative policies to increase soil C sequestration
Materials and Methods : A review of the economic literature on C sequestration and more generally on incentives in environmental and public economics, and on the efficiency of policies targeted at SCS but also compensation schemes, including public policies (such as regulation) and private initiatives.
Focus groups with farmers, but also with administration officers (file instructor, controllers, regulations authors, at different scale: local, regional, national and European) concerning their perception of the short term costs/benefits vs long term costs/benefits, of the risks, of the labor constraints, of the environmental benefits, of the availability of knowledge on practices.
The acceptability of alternative policies previously designed by focus group and project partners will be tested on a large sample of farmers by two types of experimental methods: choice experiment (including focus groups) and lab and field experiments (Louvière et al. 2000, Colen et al. 2016).
