The value and potentials of a ‘landscapesystems’ approach to agroforestry; insights from an Iberian context

Abstract

Agroforestry land uses are widely acknowledged to be complex social-ecological systems, and are strongly valued for their multi-functionality and capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services. In the Western Iberian context, open forests dominated by various species of oaks and supporting various mixtures of agricultural, forestry and pastoral practices are clustered under the terms of ‘dehesas’ in Spain and ‘montados’ in Portugal. These have recently been considered as exemplary land-use systems in which sustainability and resilience are enhanced by multiple interactions among their socio-cultural, economic and biophysical sub-systems. Regardless of the acknowledgement of the complexity that characterizes dehesas and montados, to date most of the scientific approaches to study them have been disciplinary or at times interdisciplinary, and only recently transdisciplinary approaches have been proposed. Furthermore, we consider that a number of the self-claimed transdisciplinary approaches to study montados and dehesas have been rather passive. In response to this, in the DYNAMO Research Group at the University of Évora (Portugal) we propose a (continuous) process of framing research on complex dehesa and montado systems based on what we generically term as a ‘landscape-systems’ approach. Our understanding of a ‘landscape-systems’ approach is firstly aimed at jointly embedding the multiple dimensions (biophysical, socio-economic and perceptive or cultural) and cross-scale interactions of land-use systems that emerge when they are considered as landscapes. This would permit breaking the boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines and also between such disciplines and the multiple spheres and scalar levels of land-use governance and practice. Additionally our proposal of a ‘landscape-systems’ approach is ultimately aimed at ‘to support the implementation of an action-focused research program for dehesas and montados. This would be characterized by a full-life-cycle action schedule which can only be built in continuous and long-term interaction with stakeholders and other members of the wider citizenship, and where gaining mutual trust is key to success. We believe that this is an approach that could be explored in other agroforestry systems across Europe, especially those encountering barriers in translating research into practice and action.