Assessing the sustainability of Geographical Indications in the dairy and cheese sectors : a participatory action research within the PDO Maroilles cheese

Appendices 15 and 16 has been removed from the original thesis for confidentiality reasons. Les annexes 15 et 16 ont été supprimées de la thèse originale pour des raisons de confidentialité.The actual contribution of Geographical Indications (GIs) to sustainable development (SD) is a topic that is gaining increasing attention in the context of growing societal and political pressures. While empirical knowledge is still subject, there is evidence that GIs should assess their sustainability performances to communicate the inherent sustainable attributes of their products to consumers. However, measuring the sustainability of any system is a “wicked” issue and would require soft-system approaches, which are often missing in the current literature. These limitations pointed out, the present work aimed to consolidate the Qualimentaire Sustainability Assessment Tool (QSAT) in order to design a tool that is easy to use, robust, holistic, inclusive and action-oriented, and applicable to all dairy and cheese GI in France and beyond. To this end, Participatory Action Research was conducted with the Maroilles PDO. It resulted in an innovative evaluation framework, composed of 241 indicators based on the five dimensions of Economy, Environment, Social, but also Governance and Territory, and taking into account all GI stakeholders. The discussion underlines the importance of a bottom-up participatory approach as an essential prerequisite for the applicability of the results on the field and the appropriation of the tool by local actors. Results of this study showed that the QSAT functions as a catalyst for exchanges among GI actors and collective learning about SD and thus goes far beyond a simple evaluation grid. However, a number of trade-offs were observed regarding the initial research objectives, which called for the need to not only develop an evaluation grid but a whole methodology drew on the stepwise and participatory process presented here.La contribution réelle des Indication Géographiques (IG) au développement durable (DD) est un sujet remporte une attention grandissante dans un contexte de pressions sociétales et politiques croissantes. Si les connaissances empiriques sont encore pauvres sur le sujet, il apparaît évident que les IG doivent désormais être en mesure d’évaluer leurs performances en matière de durabilité afin de communiquer aux consommateurs la valeur-ajoutée de leurs produits. Cependant, mesurer la durabilité de tout système est un processus complexe et nécessiterait une approche Soft-System, approche faisant souvent défaut dans la littérature actuelle. Ces limites mises en évidence, le présent travail a visé à consolider l'outil d'évaluation de la durabilité (QSAT) conçu par l’organisme Qualimenaire afin de concevoir une grille d’évaluation à la fois simple d’utilisation, robuste, holistique, inclusive, orientée vers l'action et applicable à l’ensemble des filières AOP laitières et fromagères de France et au-delà. Pour ce faire, une recherche-action participative a été menée avec l’AOP Maroilles. Il en est résulté un cadre d’évaluation innovant, composé de 241 indicateurs articulés autour des cinq dimensions de la durabilité: l’économie, l’environnement, le social mais aussi la gouvernance et le territoire et prenant en compte l’ensemble des acteurs de l’IG. La discussion souligne l'importance des approches participatives bottom-up comme prérequis essentiel à l’applicabilité des résultats sur le terrain et de son appropriation par les acteurs locaux. L’outil QSAT fonctionne ainsi comme un catalyseur d’échanges et d’apprentissage collectif sur la notion de DD, et va donc bien au-delà d’une simple grille d’évaluation. Cependant, un certain nombre de compromis ont été observés par rapport aux objectifs de recherche initiaux, ce qui a nécessité de développer non seulement une grille d'évaluation mais toute une méthodologie s'inspirant du processus progressif et participatif présenté ici.The Region Hauts-de-FranceM-A

Agroecological practices supporting food production and reducing food insecurity in developing countries - Volume 2

This report represents a second step in structuring existing knowledge about agroecology as farming and food system in support of the EC Knowledge Centre on Food and Nutrition Security (https://ec.europa.eu/knowledge4policy/global-food-nutrition-security_en). It complements the report “Agroecological practices supporting food production and reducing food insecurity in developing countries” (Paracchini et al., 2020 ) in which scientific literature has been screened, selected and synthesized for 17 developing countries. An identical protocol has been applied to a new set of nine countries (Bolivia, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda). In total, agroecological practices have been analysed on the basis of 278 selected documents (papers and reports) which have been synthesized and used to derive country-specific and general conclusions. Approximately 50% of the analysed papers report a positive contribution of agroecological practices to food security, mostly due to improved yields, improved resilience, enhanced diversification of production, and better economic situation of producers. Overall, agroecology contribution to food security in these regions needs to be further investigated. In fact, most country reports lack of quantifiable data and direct measurement of the relationship between the use of agroecological practices and food security. The availability of useful publications was limited for several countries.JRC.D.5 - Food Securit

Medium-term effects of Ag supplied directly or via sewage sludge to an agricultural soil on Eisenia fetida earthworm and soil microbial communities

International audienceThe widespread use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products that release Ag throughout their life cycle has raised potential environmental concerns. AgNPs primarily accumulate in soil through the spreading of sewage sludge (SS). In this study, the effects of direct exposure to AgNPs or indirect exposure via SS contaminated with AgNPs on the earthworm Eisenia fetida and soil microbial communities were compared, through 3 scenarios offering increasing exposure concentrations. The effects of Ag speciation were analyzed by spiking SS with AgNPs or AgNO3 before application to soil. SS treatment strongly impacted Ag speciation due to the formation of Ag2S species that remained sulfided after mixing in the soil. The life traits and expression of lysenin, superoxide dismutase, cd-metallothionein genes in earthworms were not impacted by Ag after 5 weeks of exposure, but direct exposure to Ag without SS led to bioaccumulation of Ag, suggesting transfer in the food chain. Ag exposure led to a decrease in potential carbon respiration only when directly added to the soil. The addition of SS had a greater effect on soil microbial diversity than the form of Ag, and the formation of Ag sulfides in SS reduced the impact of AgNPs on E. fetida and soil microorganisms compared with direct addition