Uncovering the social dynamics of environmental change across scales: The local, regional and global human networks influencing adoption of sustainable practices in food production systems

The production and trade of agricultural commodities are a key part of the global food supply and global economy, yet they are a key contributor to the rapid degradation of our most valuable ecological systems.

About 80% of deforestation is linked to the expansion of agriculture to meet an increasing demand for food products worldwide.

This is causing the rapid degradation of our most valuable ecosystems —and thus the economic and social value that we derive from them.

Adoption of agricultural practices to reduce deforestation is necessary to ensure that ecosystems that deliver substantial economic and social benefits are preserved.

However, while governance efforts to incentivise sustainable agricultural practices abound (e.g. voluntary sustainability standards), up-take is limited by lack of behavioural change.

The proposed project will aim to theorize and measure the influence of global trade relationships, local social networks, and participation in regional governance processes, on decisions to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.

This project will apply novel network analysis methods and will focus on two globally important agricultural commodities driving significant impact on a region of global significance: soy and beef production in the Cerrado and Amazon ecoregions of South America.

The knowledge generated by this research will improve the design and implementation of governance instruments that will increase uptake of sustainable practices.