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Multilevel and Multi-user Sustainability Assessment of Farming Systems

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Methods and Procedures for Building Sustainable Farming Systems

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Abstract

A broad range of sustainability concepts, methodologies and applications already exist. They differ in level, focus, orientation, measurement, scale, presentation and intended end users. In this chapter, we illustrate that a smart combination of existing methods with different levels of application can make sustainability assessment more profound, and that it can broaden the insights of different end-user groups. An overview of sustainability assessment tools on different levels and for different end users shows the complementarities and the opportunities of using different methods. In a case study, a combination of the sustainable value approach (SVA) and MOTIFS is used to perform a sustainability evaluation of farming systems in Flanders. SVA is used to evaluate sustainability at sector level and is especially useful to support policy makers, while MOTIFS is used to support and guide farmers towards sustainability at farm level. The combined use of the two methods with complementary goals can widen the insights of both farmers and policy makers, without losing the particularities of the different approaches. We propose guidelines for multilevel and multi-user sustainability assessments.

This chapter has been published as Van Passel, S., Meul, M. (2012). Multilevel and multi-user sustainability assessment of farming systems. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 32, 170–180.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan, Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium

    Steven Van Passel

  2. Department of Biosciences and Landscape Architecture, University College Ghent, Campus Schoonmeersen, Building C, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Marijke Meul

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  1. Steven Van Passel
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Correspondence to Steven Van Passel .

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  1. , Economy, Sociology and Management, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Do, Av. Almeida Lucena 1, Vila Real, 5000-660, Portugal

    Ana Alexandra Marta-Costa

  2. , Agricultural Sciences Department, University of Azores, Rua Capitão João de Ávila, Angra do Heroísmo, 9700-042, Portugal

    Emiliana L. D. G. Soares da Silva

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Van Passel, S., Meul, M. (2013). Multilevel and Multi-user Sustainability Assessment of Farming Systems. In: Marta-Costa, A., Soares da Silva, E. (eds) Methods and Procedures for Building Sustainable Farming Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5003-6_6

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