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ABSTRACTSustainable development issues are characterised by their multidisciplinary character, and the fact they are not merely an academic exercise but pertain to real‐world problems. Academic sustainable development curricula should therefore not only focus on developing the analytical and research skills and theoretical and professional knowledge of their students; they should also include real‐world learning opportunities in the curriculum. This paper evaluates the added value and constraints associated with a specific type of real‐world learning called transdisciplinary learning, based on the experiences with three courses from the undergraduate and graduate Environmental Sciences curriculum of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. In these courses, students carry out a small multidisciplinary research project or a consultancy project for a real‐life client. It is concluded that transdisciplinary courses have clear added value for students, involved stakeholders, and the university alike, making them an essential part of the sustainable development curricula. The main constraint is the balance between academic quality (grading) vs stakeholder satisfaction. Although time investments for adequate problem definition with clients may constitute a constraint for university supervisors, it has the potential added value of sparking research cooperation with societal stakeholders, and internships and employment opportunities for graduates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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

There is a growing disconnect between the international conferences where grand solutions for tropical conservation are designed and the complex local realities in tropical landscapes where plans need to be implemented. Every tropical landscape is different and no ?one size will fit all.? There is a tendency for global processes to prescribe simple generalized solutions that provide good sound bites that can be communicated with political actors and the media. Sustainable outcomes in tropical landscapes require locally adapted, unique approaches supported by long-term processes of learning and adaptation. Tropical biologists and conservationists can play a key role by establishing effective local?global links and by directly engaging in local policy discourses while remaining connected to evolving political imperatives.

There is a growing disconnect between the international conferences where grand solutions for tropical conservation are designed and the complex local realities in tropical landscapes where plans need to be implemented. Every tropical landscape is different and no "one size will fit all." There is a tendency for global processes to prescribe simple generalized solutions that provide good sound bites that can be communicated with political actors and the media. Sustainable outcomes in tropical landscapes require locally adapted, unique approaches supported by long-term processes of learning and adaptation. Tropical biologists and conservationists can play a key role by establishing effective local-global links and by directly engaging in local policy discourses while remaining connected to evolving political imperatives.