Socio-economic drivers of irrigated paddy land abandonment and agro-ecosystem degradation

What is it about?

Results showed that low agricultural benefits are a key driver of abandonment, similar to European countries. Conversely, there is a positive correlation between the population of full-time cultivators in a household and paddy land abandonment, which contradicts previous evidence. Although some mosaics of socio-ecological landscapes with high biodiversity formed through long-term human influence (i.e., the Satoyama landscapes) are less-favored agricultural areas, the paddy land in some of these landscapes tends not to be abandoned.

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Photo by Joel Vodell on Unsplash

Photo by Joel Vodell on Unsplash

Why is it important?

These findings support effective policymaking that balances biodiversity conservation and the provision of agroecosystem services in semi-natural landscapes.