The social-ecological system of farmers’ current soil carbon management in Australian grazing lands

Amin, M. N., Lobry de Bruyn, L., Hossain, M. S. , Lawson, A. and Wilson, B. (2023) The social-ecological system of farmers’ current soil carbon management in Australian grazing lands. Environmental Management, 72(2), pp. 294-308. (doi: 10.1007/s00267-023-01801-4) (PMID:36881178) (PMCID:PMC10287766)

Abstract

Soil carbon sequestration programmes are a way of offsetting GHG emissions, however, it requires agricultural landholders to be engaged in such initiatives for carbon offsets to occur. Farmer engagement is low in market-based programmes for soil carbon credits in Australia. We interviewed long-term practitioners (n = 25) of rotational grazing in high-rainfall lands of New South Wales, Australia to understand their current social-ecological system (SES) of soil carbon management (SCM). The aim was to identify those components of the SES that motivate them to manage soil carbon and also influence their potential engagement in soil carbon sequestration programmes. Utilising first-tier and second-tier concepts from Ostrom’s SES framework, the interview data were coded and identified a total of 51 features that characterised the farmers’ SES of SCM. Network analysis of farmer interview data revealed that the current SES of SCM has low connectivity among the SES features (30%). In four workshops with interviewed farmers (n = 2) and invited service providers (n = 2) the 51 features were reviewed and participants decided on the positioning and the interactions between features that were considered to influence SCM into a causal loop diagram. Post-workshop, 10 feedback loops were identified that revealed the different and common perspectives of farmers and service providers on SCM in a consolidated causal loop diagram. Defining the SES relationships for SCM can identify the challenges and needs of stakeholders, particularly farmers, which can then be addressed to achieve local, national and international objectives, such as SCM co-benefits, GHG reduction, carbon sequestration targets and SDGs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sohel, Dr MD Sarwar

Creator Roles

Hossain, M. S.: Supervision, Methodology, Software, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Amin, M. N., Lobry de Bruyn, L., Hossain, M. S., Lawson, A., and Wilson, B.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: Environmental Management
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0364-152X
• ISSN (Online): 1432-1009
• Published Online: 07 March 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Environmental Management 72(2):294-308
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license