Introduction

Interventions to protect and restore tropical ecosystems must better engage local and agricultural actors (Cohn & Rourke, 2011; Rueda, Garrett, & Lambin, 2017). I propose to increase tropical ecosystem stewardship by these strategic actors by spotlighting an underemphasized environmental service—climate regulation by ecosystems for neighboring agriculture (E4A).

The promise of E4A for ecosystem stewardship lies in demonstrating sizeable, able to be monetized production-protection synergies relevant for critical actors. E4A values ecosystems for many actors who determine ecosystem conversion including investors, local governments, and agribusinesses. E4A also creates a shared agenda for agriculture and conservation by showing that production depends on protection. I led a recent analysis showing that E4A can substantially realign the economics of tropical land use. In Brazil, roughly one in every five locations of tropical forest near agriculture appears to contribute more to agricultural production by preventing crop-killing extreme heat exposure to crops within 25 km than it could produce if it were converted to cropland itself (Cohn & Soares Filho, 2017). We also found the net present value of standing forests for climate regulation exceeded the carbon value of tropical forests in greater than 30% of locations. Combined, carbon value and climate regulation value were worth more than the market price for Brazilian cropland in just under 50% of locations. Carbon and agricultural extreme heat regulation are just two of many values to society from forest ecosystem services. Their sum is a lower bound estimate of the value of ecosystems for society and an even lower bound for the able-to-be-monetized value of ecosystems. Forests supply myriad other sources of value for local to regional natural resource economies (Carrasco, Nghiem, Sunderland, & Koh, 2014; Carpenter et al., 2009; Garibaldi et al., 2016; Maas, Clough, & Tscharntke, 2013; Stickler et al., 2013).

Quantifying E4A Means Linking Research Frontiers in Climate Modeling and Crop Modeling

The value of E4A information stems from avoiding losses to agriculture from the protection and restoration of ecosystems (Figure 1). The scientific foundation of E4A depends on synthesis of the study of the response of climate to ecosystem conversion with the study of the response of crops to climate. Both components must also weigh the changing influence of greenhouse gas-driven climate change on agriculture and ecosystems.

Figure 1.

Information on climate regulation services from tropical ecosystems for agriculture (E4A) can promote ecosystem stewardship. The schematic theorizes how E4A can fuel a set of advocacy and entrepreneurship activities that increase the ambition for tropical ecosystem conservation in an existing set of land use governance and business activities. The provision of E4A information stems from fusion of regional climate modeling and crop modeling.

E4A: Transforming the meaning of ecosystems for agriculture

E4A can transform how agribusiness actors engage in climate and ecosystem governance. First, E4A shows tropical ecosystem stewardship to be a source of locally valuable public and private goods. Farmers neighboring a protected area might benefit from climate regulation. Both a farmer and their neighbors might benefit from stewardship of on-farm ecosystem patches. In this way, climate regulation is a type of local incentive for or co-benefit¹ from ecosystem stewardship. Generally, environmental governance (including both forest and climate governance) has not widely explored spotlighting or internalize such incentives (Green, 2015). A second transformational dimension of E4A is its potential to shift conceptions of deforestation risk to include not only reputation and regulation risk but also operations risk. This shift can engage and enroll a wider and more influential set of agricultural decision-makers in tropical ecosystem protection. Third, E4A also links forest conservation with climate impact risk; reframing climate impact risk from strictly force majeure (Giannakis & Papadopoulos, 2016) to a type of risk that can be mitigated with local land management. Fourth, perhaps the shift can enlist agritech precision agriculture efforts for the tropical ecosystem protection agenda. Tens of billions of dollars are invested annually in research, development, and information systems for closing yield gaps within farms and even within fields. Finally, ecosystem driven climate change and E4A from ecosystem protection are contemporary observable realities. By contrast, greenhouse gas-driven climate change and especially the benefits of reduced emissions are, respectively, not easily discernible and anticipated to be indiscernible for at least a decade. Getting agricultural actors focused on E4A can be a gateway to deepening climate engagement and ambition in the sector.

Targeting E4A to Decision Processes

Advocacy and entrepreneurship addressing E4A needs scientific evidence that is: (a) tailored to specific leverage or pain points in contemporary decision processes; and (b) built on a foundation of generalizable systems research (and the datasets underlying it) into the climate, land and ecosystem components of E4A (see Figure 2 for a schematic).

Figure 2.

Tailored research questions rest on generalizable E4A evidence and models.

I used an exploratory set of research² activities with E4A stakeholders to identify priority decision processes for E4A information. Processes identified comprise non-state market-driven governance, land use regulation, and investment and entrepreneurship in tropical agriculture. Informants mentioned numerous decision processes. These included:

The list of decision processes extended beyond forest governance and included a number of themes related to climate mitigation, impacts, and adaptation.

Brazilian Forest Code: How Tailoring E4A Research Makes It Actionable

Within each decision process, respondents stressed how actionable research would need to support discrete decisions. For example, the Brazilian Forest Code entails multiple research questions that can be shaped by E4A-relevant data and evidence including: (a) how much would a given amount of forest reserve increase agricultural productivity? (b) how much does E4A change with patch size? (c) How much more should a producer be willing to pay to maintain on farm forest versus acquire tradeable forest certificates? (d) How should Questions 1 to 3 influence land or agricultural investment decisions? (e) How should Questions 1 to 3 influence lobbying for Forest Code stringency and revisions? (f) How should Questions 1 to 3 affect advocacy strategies seeking to raise Forest Code ambition?

Cross Cutting Demand for Data and Evidence

A set of foundational types of E4A spatial datasets and evidence categories emerged as relevant for many of the decision analyses detailed. The dataset types include most previously identified as germane for terrestrial conservation decision support (Chaplin-Kramer et al., 2015) but also include climate datasets. Notably, limits to in situ data of all germane types at the tropical agriculture-forest frontier means a heavier reliance on remote sensing-derived climate, agricultural production, and land cover data. Evidence categories include all causal relationships depicted by arrows in Figure 1.³ Table 1 contains a discussion of the state of science and information for these datasets and evidence categories, given the information demands detailed in the consultative research. In sum, much data and evidence needed for decision support is readily available in some critical ecosystems of the tropics. However, even in these critical regions, basic research opportunities exist to close data and information gaps of immediate relevance for ecosystem protection.

Table 1.

Relevance of E4A Information and Data.

Concluding Remarks

Agricultural productivity gains from climate regulation by ecosystems can increase support for ecosystem stewardship. A recently completed expert consultation revealed numerous decision processes in which such information could help to justify agricultural decisions and practices that help to steward tropical ecosystems. Engagement should take many forms including actionable research tailored to decision processes, decision support systems, advocacy, entrepreneurial efforts and targeted investment. The science of E4A is rapidly developing and stands ready to support numerous decision processes. Science advocacy and science-industry engagements will also help to grow actionable research.