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Agricultural landscapes are the result of the long-term, complex, and intermingled interfaces between nature and culture. Among the stakeholders involved in the production of agri-environmental and climate services, farmers play a crucial role, and their contribution should be duly acknowledged to promote sustainable land management. Therefore, this research aims to contribute to the participatory design of agri-environmental contracts to incentivize landscape and biodiversity practices. To achieve this goal, 13 innovation labs with multi-actor perspective were established across nine different European countries. These groups envisioned a future sustainable landscape characterized by diversity and balance of economic, socio-cultural, and environmental components. Trust-based networks and effective communication channels emerge as vital components for the success of sustainable local production systems. Practitioners emphasize the significance of European-level policies in effecting transformative change and influencing farmers'willingness to contribute to both food production and environmental public goods. They defined concrete contract features such as public funding, hybrid payments, and the presence of intermediaries for the potential of agri-environmental measures. Notably, practitioners perceive a wide range of benefits associated with the implementation of agri-environmental measures, extending beyond economic compensation. Gaining a deeper understanding of practitioners' perceptions of their territories and agri-environmental measures is crucial for policymakers to design tailored and appealing programs that resonate with practitioners'needs. • Agroecosystem living labs are valuable approach for facilitating transition. • Trust-based networks and communication channels enable transformative change. • Agri-environmental measures yield benefits beyond economic compensation. • Preferred contract features are public funding, hybrid payments and presence of intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative agri-environmental contracts are increasingly studied in the literature, but their adoption has been relatively slow and geographically scattered. Action-based agri-environmental measures remain the predominant policy mechanism across Europe. A three-round Policy Delphi study was conducted with policy makers, scientific experts, farmers' representatives, and NGOs from across 15 different European countries, to investigate how and under which circumstances novel contractual solutions could be implemented more widely. The expert panel perceived result-based and collective contractual elements as the most promising. Although considered beneficial from several aspects, value chain contracts were perceived less relevant to the policy environment. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar 2 measures were highlighted by the experts as the key policy area to implement novel contracts by national or regional authorities, but Pillar 1 eco-schemes, being launched in the CAP 2023–2027, were also considered as a potentially suitable framework for testing and implementation. The Delphi panel envisaged innovative contracts should be adopted by governments in iterative steps and not as a complete substitute for current payment schemes, but rather as an additional incentive to them. Such an incremental approach allows contractual innovations to capitalise on existing best practices. But it also implies the risk that innovative contracts could remain marginal and fail to substantially change farmers' behaviour, resulting in a failure to improve environmental conditions. • A policy Delphi survey investigated options for novel agri-environmental contracts. • Result-based and collective contracts are perceived as promising innovations. • Value-chain (certification, labelling) contracts are perceived less policy-relevant. • The ideal contract mixes action- and result-based elements. • Implementation of novel contracts should be gradual and adapted to local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lifespan is influenced by adverse childhood experiences that create predispositions to poor health outcomes. Here we propose an allostatic framework of childhood experiences and their impact on health across the lifespan, focusing on Latin American and Caribbean countries. This region is marked by significant social and health inequalities nested in environmental and social stressors, such as exposure to pollution, violence, and nutritional deficiencies, which critically influence current and later-life health outcomes. We review several manifestations across cognition, behavior, and the body, observed at the psychological (e.g., cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioral dysfunctions), brain (e.g., alteration of the development, structure, and function of the brain), and physiological levels (e.g., dysregulation of the body systems and damage to organs). To address the complexity of the interactions between environmental and health-related factors, we present an allostatic framework regarding the cumulative burden of environmental stressors on physiological systems (e.g., cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine) related to health across the life course. Lastly, we explore the relevance of this allostatic integrative approach in informing regional interventions and public policy recommendations. We also propose a research agenda, potentially providing detailed profiling and personalized care by assessing the social and environmental conditions. This framework could facilitate the delivery of evidence-based interventions and informed childhood-centered policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerated intensification/disintensification and urbanization are changing agricultural systems and propel the need for spatial approaches to understand sustainability-enhancing resilience. Landscapes are key to this understanding though little is known of the broad-scale, cross-landscape connectivity of social-ecological factors amid changing agricultural systems. This study's goals are to identify broad-scale types of agricultural landscapes in Spain that are associated with intensification/disintensification and urbanization and then to use case studies to assess the types and extent of cross-landscape connectivity. It examines the social-ecological connectivity of environmental resources, resource users, and governance. The overarching purpose is to improve the understanding of social-ecological connectivity in strengthening the sustainability-enhancing resilience of agricultural landscapes amid global agri-food changes. To pursue these goals, we conducted a structured literature review of publications to identify major types of agricultural landscapes in Spain that reflect intensification/disintensification and urbanization trends. Case studies of agricultural landscapes and connectivity were undertaken in the Madrid and Granada regions. These case studies used a structured interview with experienced professional experts in fields of social-ecological sustainability and agricultural landscapes in each region. Analyses including Latent Block Modelling were applied to interview results on types and extent of cross-landscape connectivity in both conventional and alternative agriculture. The structured literature review identified the predominance of three types of broad-scale agricultural landscapes in Spain: intensive, "traditional" rural, and peri-urban/urban. Analysis of case-study results revealed variation of the extent and structure of connectivity among clusters of landscape interactions and social-ecological factors. Landscape-level connectivity created both negative agricultural impacts (e.g., extensive water transfers and nutrient pollution in conventional agriculture) and positive impacts (e.g., knowledge system and seed exchanges in alternative agriculture). Interactions of alternative agricultural systems in peri-urban/urban and "traditional" rural landscapes have benefitted from cross-landscape connectivity amid accelerated agricultural change. Research and policy on the landscape-level connectivity of agricultural systems are needed to strengthen sustainability-enhancing resilience of both conventional and alternative agriculture. This study's approach and results are a strategic complement to existing emphasis on within-landscape cycles of social-ecological factors in alternative agriculture. This study's insights are important in the transition phases of alternative agriculture and associated food systems amid changes due to agricultural intensification/disintensification and urbanization. Understanding selective cross-landscape connectivity is important for spatial approaches to strengthen the sustainability-enhancing resilience of agricultural systems. [Display omitted] • Global agricultural changes require innovative landscape and spatial approaches for resilient connectivity/networks • The study identified three broad-scale agricultural landscapes in Spain: intensive, traditional rural, and peri-urban/urban • Case studies showed connectivity variation among clusters of bipartite landscape interactions and social-ecological factors • Landscape-level connectivity expanded the capacities of alternative agriculture for sustainability-enhancing resilience • Adaptive multi-scale, cross-landscape connectivity benefitted alternative agriculture amid accelerating global changes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]