Research and working themes within SAPES
The framework of our research is to understand the decision loop shown in Figure 1. By evaluating the causes and consequences of agricultural management actions and their effects on multiple ecosystem services, we aim at developing tools that support the policy progress and help to improve policies to promote a sustainable agriculture.
Three themes within SAPES
To achieve this goal, our work is divided into three themes.
- Theme 1 focuses on the ecological processes and links between agricultural land-use, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- In theme 2, we want to understand farmers’ land-use decisions, how they are influenced by different governance regimes and how this feeds back to ecosystem service functioning.
- Finally, theme 3 brings together results from theme 1 and 2 in a synthesis work used to develop state-of-the-art decision support tools for policy makers and stakeholders.
The work within each of the themes is based on relevant previous and ongoing research and brought forward by enhanced effort on synthesis studies. An additional important function of SAPES is to support this work by providing databases, training, dissemination and stakeholder interactions.
Read more about each theme
Theme 1
Synergies and trade-offs between agricultural production and delivery of multiple ecosystem services
Theme 2
Understanding land-use decisions: Economic valuation and governance of agricultural landscapes
