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CONTEXT: Regardless 30 years of similar regulations and a common internal market, the diffusion of organic farming strongly differs amongst European member states. While the share of organic farmland in 2018 in Denmark and Austria was respectively 9.8% and 24.7%, in the Netherlands it was only 2.3%. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to analyze what factors may determine the very different diffusion of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands, compared to Denmark and Austria. METHODS: We applied the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework to the case of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands, for which a literature review and interviews with key actors within the dairy value chain were carried out. To identify potential leverage points for upscaling also interviews with key actors from Denmark and Austria were held. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Various barriers in the fulfilment of the seven TIS functions of Dutch organic dairy farming could be identified. With regard to the system function market formation a diversification in certified dairy products are signaled as important factors for upscaling. The function entrepreneurial activities will benefit from an reinforcement of governmental subsidies, since farmers who convert to organic run financial risks. Regarding the function guidance of the search, more consistent and systemic governmental support is needed, since the conversion to organic encompass a regime shift rather that supporting newcomers entering the sector. SIGNIFICANCE: By studying the blocking mechanisms that hinder diffusion of organic dairy, the paper provides several leverage points that may also be applicable to the arrested diffusion of organic farming in other countries as well as the larger sustainability transition in European agriculture.

CONTEXT: Regardless 30 years of similar regulations and a common internal market, the diffusion of organic farming strongly differs amongst European member states. While the share of organic farmland in 2018 in Denmark and Austria was respectively 9.8% and 24.7%, in the Netherlands it was only 2.3%. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to analyze what factors may determine the very different diffusion of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands, compared to Denmark and Austria. METHODS: We applied the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework to the case of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands, for which a literature review and interviews with key actors within the dairy value chain were carried out. To identify potential leverage points for upscaling also interviews with key actors from Denmark and Austria were held. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Various barriers in the fulfilment of the seven TIS functions of Dutch organic dairy farming could be identified. With regard to the system function market formation a diversification in certified dairy products are signaled as important factors for upscaling. The function entrepreneurial activities will benefit from an reinforcement of governmental subsidies, since farmers who convert to organic run financial risks. Regarding the function guidance of the search, more consistent and systemic governmental support is needed, since the conversion to organic encompass a regime shift rather that supporting newcomers entering the sector. SIGNIFICANCE: By studying the blocking mechanisms that hinder diffusion of organic dairy, the paper provides several leverage points that may also be applicable to the arrested diffusion of organic farming in other countries as well as the larger sustainability transition in European agriculture.

Despite the importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for local livelihoods in tropical countries and the increasing attention for biodiversity-ecosystem services relationships, it remained unclear how the ecosystem service of NTFP provisioning is related to plant diversity. Although it is generally assumed that plant diversity is positively related to ecosystem services, this had not been assessed for NTFP provisioning. We applied bivariate and multiple regression models to explore the relationships between the abundance of 58 commercially relevant NTFP species and woody plant diversity across 287 plots of tropical forests in Northern Suriname. We found that NTFP abundance showed both positive and negative relationships to plant diversity indicators. In contrast to expectations, NTFP abundance was negatively related to woody species richness. In addition, across the plots disproportionately few (2–6) NTFP species determined >50% of NTFP abundance. The occurrence and the identity of these 'NTFP oligarchs' was associated to specific floristic compositions. Overall, more than half, i.e. 55.9%, of the observed variation in NTFP abundance could be explained by a combination of taxonomic and structural plant diversity indicators. Our case study findings are relevant for conservation policies in general. In most countries NTFPs are not on the agenda of governments and current tropical conservation policies often focus on forests with high species richness and/or carbon stocks. Our findings indicate that current policies may not cover valuable forests in terms of high NTFP abundance. To support sustainable NTFP provisioning, additional conservation efforts would need to include those vegetation types with high NTFP abundance.

Over the last two decades, sustainable landscape approaches are increasingly being adopted worldwide. An important challenge for these approaches is to analyse and improve governance systems that promote non-conflicting land uses to provide multiple ecosystem services and safeguard biodiversity for diverse social groups over the long term. Our study provides a diagnostic of the gaps and limitations of the current institutional arrangements of an ecosystem corridor in Central Sumatra covering Riau, Jambi and West Sumatera, known as the RIMBA corridor landscape. We identify actions that stakeholders think should be taken to improve the governance of the RIMBA corridor to achieve sustainable landscape goals. We used a combination of methods, including (1) Focus Group Discussions with key stakeholders of the RIMBA programme; (2) the use of a "context diagnostic approach for conservation" to analyse the results of the Focus Group Discussions; (3) a survey on formal institution design for coordination and management of the RIMBA corridor. We found that although transformational dynamics have already been initiated at the local, provincial and national levels through a pilot project, new regulations and institutional changes, many obstacles to effective governance of the RIMBA landscape still remain. Our study points at the need for a new institution to enable cooperation for green economy policy objectives established through a Presidential Decree to achieve the required institutional innovations at the scales required. Our experimental diagnostic approach can be applied in other settings in Indonesia and elsewhere to analyse and improve the effectiveness of governance for the management of biodiversity and ecosystem services at landscape scales.

European agriculture, and Dutch agriculture in particular, is at a crossroads. Due to rationalisation, including intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, biodiversity in rural areas is declining at an unprecedented rate. Socioeconomic developments in the agricultural sector also show 'a race to the bottom'. Farmers produce on world markets and are only able to compete on input costs. This results in lower income per unit crop or animal and leads to an ever increasing farm size. In turn this leads to a further decline of habitat of species bound to rural areas and farmland. To turn these negative trends around the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture has proposed an alternative form of farming, labelled 'nature inclusive' farming, that 1) benefits from the services that natural processes provide, 2) delivers agri-environmental practices to maintain agro-biodiversity and 3) strongly reduces its negative impacts on the environment. Currently this Ministry supports the adoption of nature inclusive farming practices by funding innovative experiments led by farmer initiatives. Despite some promising results, such innovations have large difficulties to be scaled up, largely due to counteracting forces of the current agricultural system. Using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework developed by Hekkert and Negro (2009), we argue that a systemic transition of current agricultural practices is required to mainstream 'nature inclusive' farming. Such a transition can only be realised when a shared vision on the future agricultural sector is developed, set out by the government and societal parties. Such a shared vision can then lead to new enabling (policy) environments/landscapes in which these innovations can rise. Without such shared vision, innovations will be locked-in into the current agricultural system, to the extent of a very low prospect of nature inclusive innovations. Furthermore, we observe that the many experiments currently running suffer from a lack of interconnected learning platforms, a lack of documentation of failures and successes and little attention for the forces leading to lock-in and preventing a regime shift. Using two examples, we will illustrate what type of interventions are needed to up-scale nature inclusive innovations. Keyword 1: innovation studies Keyword 2: sustainable agriculture Keyword 3: agricultural policy ; peerReviewed

Forests across the world stand at a crossroads where climate and land-use changes are shaping their future. Despite demonstrations of political will and global efforts, forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation continue unabated. No clear evidence exists to suggest that these initiatives are working. A key reason for this apparent ineffectiveness could lie in the failure to recognize the agency of all stakeholders involved. Landscapes do not happen. We shape them. Forest transitions are social and behavioral before they are ecological. Decision makers need to integrate better representations of people's agency in their mental models. A possible pathway to overcome this barrier involves eliciting mental models behind policy decisions to allow better representation of human agency, changing perspectives to better understand divergent points of view, and refining strategies through explicit theories of change. Games can help decision makers in all of these tasks. ; ISSN:2590-3322

Forests across the world stand at a crossroads where climate and land-use changes are shaping their future. Despite demonstrations of political will and global efforts, forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation continue unabated. No clear evidence exists to suggest that these initiatives are working. A key reason for this apparent ineffectiveness could lie in the failure to recognize the agency of all stakeholders involved. Landscapes do not happen. We shape them. Forest transitions are social and behavioral before they are ecological. Decision makers need to integrate better representations of people?s agency in their mental models. A possible pathway to overcome this barrier involves eliciting mental models behind policy decisions to allow better representation of human agency, changing perspectives to better understand divergent points of view, and refining strategies through explicit theories of change. Games can help decision makers in all of these tasks.

Forests across the world stand at a crossroads where climate and land-use changes are shaping their future. Despite demonstrations of political will and global efforts, forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation continue unabated. No clear evidence exists to suggest that these initiatives are working. A key reason for this apparent ineffectiveness could lie in the failure to recognize the agency of all stakeholders involved. Landscapes do not happen. We shape them. Forest transitions are social and behavioral before they are ecological. Decision makers need to integrate better representations of people's agency in their mental models. A possible pathway to overcome this barrier involves eliciting mental models behind policy decisions to allow better representation of human agency, changing perspectives to better understand divergent points of view, and refining strategies through explicit theories of change. Games can help decision makers in all of these tasks.