ABSTRACT

We examine the potential of local agroecological transitions to sustainability in Spain and their interaction with Biosphere Reserve (BR) designation. The BR program has experienced great success in Spain however questions linger regarding their contribution to agricultural sustainability. Here, we evaluate the performance of two selected local agroecological initiatives through a Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) approach focusing, specifically, on their potential contribution to community resilience. To do so, we collected survey data from participants in one local agroecological initiative in the non-BR designated “La Vera” area and in the “Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo” BR. We found that participants valued positively the achievements of both initiatives but identified two important obstacles for CHANS community resilience: 1) lack of economic competitiveness of the products and services offered due to the higher prices of agroecological products when compared with conventionally produced market-oriented competitors and, 2) governance obstacles related to subsidy dependence and excessive governmental regulations of local community management practices and decision-making. Though there were no statistically significant differences between BR and non-BR survey data, non-BR respondents did identify more governance issues than BR respondents suggesting that BR designation may empower local communities institutionally providing them with more decision-making leverage in their interactions with the administration.

摘要

我们研究了西班牙当地农业生态向可持续发展转型的潜力及其与生物圈保护区（BR）指定的相互作用。BR 计划在西班牙取得了巨大成功，但其对农业可持续发展的贡献仍存在疑问。在这里，我们通过人类与自然系统耦合（CHANS）方法评估了两个选定的当地农业生态举措的绩效，特别关注它们对社区复原力的潜在贡献。为此，我们收集了非生物圈指定的“La Vera”地区和“Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo”生物圈的一项当地农业生态倡议参与者的调查数据。我们发现参与者积极评价这两项举措的成就，但也指出了 CHANS 社区复原力的两个重要障碍：1) 与传统生产的市场导向型竞争对手相比，由于生态农业产品的价格较高，所提供的产品和服务缺乏经济竞争力；2) 与补贴依赖和政府对当地社区管理实践和决策的过度监管有关的治理障碍-制作。尽管 BR 和非 BR 调查数据之间没有统计上的显着差异，但非 BR 受访者确实比 BR 受访者发现了更多的治理问题，这表明 BR 的指定可以在制度上赋予当地社区权力，为他们在与行政。