SUSTAINPEAT: Overcoming barriers to sustainable livelihoods and environments in smallholder agricultural systems on tropical peatland

该提案与BBSRC全球挑战呼吁中确定的5项农业和粮食系统挑战中的2项密切相关，即（a）粮食系统对气候变化的适应能力和（B）更广泛景观背景下的农业。该项目旨在支持热带泥炭地等重要景观的环境可持续性只有将当地社区的社会经济需求与当地知识相结合，才有可能实现这一目标。因此，跨学科的方法是提供成功结果的关键组成部分;这是嵌入在我们的项目中。在这方面，生活在东南亚泥炭地的社区特别重要，因为他们的贫困率高，对环境压力因素（如厄尔尼诺/南方涛动造成的干旱和洪水、泥炭/森林火灾造成的空气污染）的复原力低，而且他们很容易受到外部市场力量的影响。该项目特意考虑了印度尼西亚和马来西亚，使我们能够对比国家内部不同政策对泥炭地管理的影响。该项目的新奇围绕着一些相互关联的功能。首先，这项研究将提供一个全面的帐户的地位，沙对热带泥炭沼泽。它将通过一项专门的研究来实现这一目标，该研究将开发和采用一个针对泥炭地SHA具体特征的创新框架。这不仅将生成有关泥炭地SHA的现状和面临的挑战的高质量信息，而且该框架将提供一种可转移的方法，可用于评估不同地区的SHA，并可升级到国家和区域规模。小农户和其他利益攸关方的参与将确保研究结果迅速转化为计划的实际行动建议。第三，该项目采用了一种全面的方法，利用并整合跨国界的跨学科知识;这种在相关社会经济框架内对作物和泥炭系统的生物物理理解的整合构成了研究方法的基础。重要的是，这种方法将明确地发展对关键的地方和科学术语的理解，减少跨学科研究的障碍，并提高适应和创新吸收的前景。研究小组和社区以前合作采取的以行动为主导的办法给生计带来了好处。然而，这些都是狭隘的学科基础;该项目的研究学科的广度和深度以及泥炭地环境重点将提供进一步的新奇和影响机会。从根本上说，我们的提案为支持马来西亚和印度尼西亚实现其可持续发展目标做出了创新性贡献，特别是在减少贫困，实现粮食安全和改善营养方面，促进可持续农业，减少土地退化，减少国家之间和国家内部的（经济）不平等。

This proposal aligns closely with 2 of the 5 agriculture and food system challenges identified in this BBSRC global challenges call namely (a) resilience of the food system to climatic variability and (b) agriculture within the context of the wider landscape.This project is designed to support environmental sustainability of important landscapes such as tropical peatlands (and the vital ecosystem services they provide) which is only possible if the socio-economic needs of local communities are combined with local knowledge. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach is a crucial component of delivering successful outcomes; this is embedded within our project. Communities living in the peatlands of SE Asia are especially relevant in this context due to their high rates of poverty and low resilience to environmental stressors (e.g. ENSO-driven droughts and floods, air pollution from peat/forest fires) in conjunction with their high exposure to external market forces. The project deliberately considers both Indonesia and Malaysia to allow us to contrast the impact of different within country policies with respect to peatland management. The novelty of the project revolves around a number of interrelated features. Firstly the study will provide a comprehensive account of the status of SHA on tropical peat swamps. It will do so via a dedicated study which will develop and employ an innovative framework tailored to the specific characteristics of SHA on peatlands. Not only will this generate high quality information concerning the current status and challenges facing SHA on peatland, but the framework will provide a transferable approach which can be employed to assess SHA in different areas and is upscalable to national and regional scales. The involvement of smallholders and other stakeholders will ensure rapid translation of research findings into planned proposals for practical action. Thirdly the project employs a holistic approach drawing on, and integrating interdisciplinary knowledge across national boundaries; this integration of the biophysical understanding of the crop and peat systems within a relevant socio-economic framework forms the basis of the research approaches. Importantly, this approach will explicitly develop an understanding of key local and scientific terminology reducing barriers to interdisciplinary research and enhancing prospects for adaptation and innovation uptake. There have been livelihood benefits from previous action-led approaches collaboratively undertaken by research teams and communities. However these have been narrowly discipline based; the breadth and depth of the research disciplines within this project and the peatland environment focus will provide further novelty and opportunities for impact.Fundamentally, our proposal makes an innovative contribution to support Malaysia and Indonesia in achieving their Sustainable Development Goals, specifically in relation to reducing poverty, achieving food security and improved nutrition, promoting sustainable agriculture, reducing land degradation, and reducing (economic) inequality between and within countries.