Adaptation to Environmental Change

This work seeks to understand the adoption of solutions to reduce the environmental impact of food 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 (for example through deforestation or water quality decline). As a consequence, the value that we derive from ecological systems in every region of the world is estimated to be declining by up to US$20 trillion per year.

Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices to reduce impacts is therefore necessary to ensure that ecosystems that deliver substantial economic and social benefits are preserved. This work program seeks to understand how trade and social networks influence landholders’ decisions in globally dependent systems to adopt sustainable practices.

This new project is funded by the Australian Research Council and FORMAS.  I am currently accepting applications for PhD projects that will support this work program.

The connection between soy, meat production and deforestation is erasing vast swathes of forest and other habitats in some of the country’s most biodiverse regions. Photo credit: Angela Guerrero

Related publications:

Guerrero A.M., Jones N.A., Ross H., Virah-sawmy M., Biggs D. (2021) What influences and inhibits reduction of deforestation in the soy supply chain? A mental model perspective. Environmental Science and Policy 115:125–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.10.016

Virah-Sawmy M., Duran A.P., Green J. Guerrero A.M., Biggs D., West C.D. (2019) Sustainability gridlock in a global agricultural commodity chain: Reframing the soy–meat food system. Sustainable Production and Consumption 18: 210-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2019.01.003

Barnes, M.L., Wang, P., Cinner, J.E. Graham, N., Guerrero A.M. et al. (2020) Social determinants of adaptive and transformative responses to climate change. Nature Climate Change. 10, 823–828. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0871-4

Barnes M.L, Ö. Bodin, A.M. Guerrero, R.J. McAllister, S.M. Alexander, and G. Robins (2017) The social structural foundations of adaptation and transformation in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 22 4: doi:10.5751/ES-09769-220416