Co-designing agro-ecological approaches with smallholder farming communities to boost biodiversity and livelihoods in the Global South – a tale of two projects

The IPBES thematic assessment report on “Transformative Change And Options For Achieving The 2050 Vision For Biodiversity” identified “agriculture” as one of the main sectors that heavily contribute to biodiversity loss. Halting and reversing biodiversity declines requires overcoming context-specific challenges and  incorporating co-creation principles including equity, respect, recognition and collaboration.

Agro-ecological approaches that support both biodiversity conservation and sustainable production are increasingly being adopted in agriculture systems to enhance sustainability and future-proof farming . Interventions to boost beneficial biodiversity including practices that help enhance pollinator communities or natural enemies of crop pests are well studied, and form an integral part of agri-environmental schemes particularly in the Global North across Europe and North America. However, implementing such interventions in smallholder farming systems without policy support, poses specific challenges, particularly when there is a dearth of collated local evidence and knowledge further compounded by a lack of financial incentives for implementation.

Here we present case studies from two projects in India funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund - one focussed on enhancing pollinator communities and crop pollination and the other focussed on boosting natural enemies of pests to reduce crop damages and reduce agrochemical input. Both case studies are founded on effective knowledge exchange and interactions with local smallholders to co-design floral interventions and co-develop context specific solutions that provided ecological as well as socio-economic benefits. Our results show that context specific floral resources can boost beneficial biodiversity including natural enemies of pests and insect pollinators. These in turn contribute to enhanced ecosystem services, better yield and quality of produce and improved livelihoods. The interventions also provided co-benefits in the form of added income and / or meeting household nutritional needs. The smallholder farmers involved in these projects have also enabled wider adoption of these practices through peer-to-peer sharing of best practice amongst their local networks to help enhance both biodiversity and livelihoods in their communities.

Our projects provide a conservation evidence narrative highlighting how transformative change for a just and sustainable world can be achieved through engagement with local communities; respectful and reciprocal human-nature relationships, and adaptive learning and action.