Landscape Approaches in the Mediterranean region – bridging landscape science and practice 372 IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION FOR ENHANCED SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN MEDITERRANEAN AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS VIA A LANDSCAPE APPROACH; THE WINES OF ALENTEJO SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM (PSVA), PORTUGAL

Abstract

andscape approaches (LAs) aim to foster sustainable land management that reconciles agriculture, nature conservation and competing land-use. Such approaches are useful to meet global and local sustainability goals. To achieve this, LAs have been implemented for landscape restoration, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and biodiversity conservation purposes. They have also been advocated as strategic tools for the coordination and cooperation of different actors and institutions bounded by competing interests over land-use. As a framework to operationalize Landscape Approaches, ten principles have been identified in literature. So far, these principles are being tested over an increasing number of case studies. However, few of these studies are found across the Mediterranean area. Starting in 2015, the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Program (PSVA) has acted as an innovative overarching framework bridging together wine producers and other key actors across the region. This program has managed to enhance the sustainability standards and performances of the sector, while overcoming challenges related to short-term public funding. In this paper we examine to what extent the PSVA can be considered as a LA. Looking at alignment between the PSVA and the 10 LA principles, and extracting the key lessons learnt over the initial five years of the PSVA, we discuss more broadly the conditions, benefits, limitations and opportunities to extend these principles more broadly across other regions of the Mediterranean where the wine sector may be considered as strategic. An in-depth analysis was conducted of the institutional, organizational, structural, financial and strategic conditions set by the PSVA. Finally, the results obtained throughout these exercises were paired with the 10 LA principles to disentangle any mutual overlaps. Results point out to three key factors that distinguish the PSVA from other similar programs and projects (see table), and that explain its success in Agri-Food Sustainability. These three factors have been pared to the 10 LA principles as follows: PSVA Findings Shared Values Dynamic Leadership Multi-Actor Networks Number of Landscape Approach Principles 6 4 6 Results obtained so far indicate a clear overlap, and although preliminary, we can conclude the following: (1) clear examples of (implicit) LAs to enhance the sustainability and resilience of agri-food systems are already being implemented across the Mediterranean macro-region, and (2) the success of the PSVA indicates to the potential of LAs to help other wine producing regions and networks across the Mediterranean move in a similar direction