ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi queda condicionat a lʼacceptació de les condicions dʼús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://cat.creativecommons.org/?page_id=184 ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis queda condicionado a la aceptación de las condiciones de uso establecidas por la siguiente licencia Creative Commons: http://es.creativecommons.org/blog/licencias/ WARNING. The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en Ph.D. dissertation Social-ecological impacts of agrarian intensification: The case of modern irrigation in Navarre Amaia Albizua Supervisors: Dr. Unai Pascual Ikerbasque Research Professor. Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3), Building Sede 1, 1st floor Science Park UPV/EHU, Sarriena | 48940 Leioa, Spain Dr. Esteve Corbera Senior Researcher. Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Building Z Campus UAB | 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola). Barcelona, Spain A dissertation submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Technology 2016 Amaia Albizua 2016 Cover: Painting by Txaro Otxaran, Navarre case study region Nire familiari, ama, aita ta Josebari Ta batez ere, amama Felisaren memorian Preface This dissertation is the product of nearly five years of intense personal and professional development. The exploration began when a series of coincidences led me to the Basque Centre for Climate Change Centre (BC3). I had considered doing a PhD since the beginning of my professional career, but the long duration of a PhD and focusing on a particular topic discouraged such intentions. After some years working in the private sector, I realised I still had much to learn. For this reason, I applied for and subsequently received a grant for an MSc programme on soil and water management and then, in 2010, I obtained a grant to go to Ghana, working as a consultant in the UNESCO’s office in Accra. My time there made me realise that doing a PhD transcended becoming an expert in a topic. Through various positions, I shared time with politicians and professors from whom I learned that the personal and technical skills gained from pursuing a PhD were invaluable; consequently, I aspired to incorporate these aptitudes in my own self-development. Thereafter, I explored PhD opportunities, preferably in the Basque Country, as I had been studying and working abroad, and I was keen on understanding my native land. I had the opportunity to work in the BC3, but the former scientific director suggested that I pursue an additional master’s degree in economics. After reviewing several master’s programs and speaking with different professors, I understood that the masters of ecological economics offered at ICTA-UAB provided a new scientific paradigm, one of complexity, and from a notably socially and environmentally-committed perspective. It was a crucial moment of lucidity when I realised that I had to bridge those areas (the land/ecosystems dimension with the social dimension) to build my own research career. During the MSc programme at ICTA, I discovered political ecology and my enthusiasm amplified. This knowledge acquisition shaped the ideas which I then began to develop for my PhD. After completing the MSc at ICTA, I moved home and started the PhD in Bilbao with Unai Pascual. I have spent all my PhD years there, making at least one visit per year to Barcelona, where I typically spent several days with Esteve Corbera discussing PhD issues and ideas. I must admit that the early years were challenging, when after reading so much information, I was still unable to properly formulate the research questions of my thesis. I felt a bit lost, but this way of proceeding also allowed for a more creative and thought-invoking process, where I developed my own interests through my personal learning on an iterative basis. The camaraderie of BC3 and ICTA colleagues and their unconditional support have made this learning process much more dynamic and productive. By the end of the first year, I moved to Lund, Sweden, supported by EcoFINDERs project funds, an EU- funded program on Ecological Function and Biodiversity Indicators in European Soils in which Unai was involved. It was in September 2012 when I developed the ecological aspects of my ideas with the i help of Katarina Hedlund’s team in the Department of Biology of Lund University. More specifically, I assessed the effects of different types of land management practices on the soil properties and the trade-offs and synergies of soil ecosystem services (ES) under different intensities of land management. I greatly value the learning experience that I received from my participation in this group regarding statistics and understanding ecological processes. The product of this collaborative work resulted in publishing the first article of this thesis. However, I have not included it within the dissertation. The cases of Sweden and Navarre are completely different, as the Swedish case was conducted under controlled conditions (which focused on rotations of crop varieties and the amount of mineral fertilisers used), whereas the Navarre case encompassed a broad quantity of crops and land management practices, including in turn different crop varieties (not considering rotations), types of fertilisers (not considering quantities) and use of irrigation. Initially, I intended to make two separate sections addressing each case study, but as my research thinking evolved, I decided to focus the dissertation on Navarre only, in order to produce a more coherent and less convoluted thesis. The research process has been anything but linear. The learning path has been cyclical and has been continuously adapted to emerging ideas and reflections, to questions and debates arising through in- depth research. I dedicated approximately one year intermittently to fieldwork, which has been the best part of the PhD. Another year was devoted to analysing the Navarre case study results using R, which was a challenging learning process. Lastly, I dedicated a year or more on writing. Combining all the pieces together and communicating results with fluidity has been more arduous work than first expected. I hope to have succeeded in constructing an interesting research narrative, and that the final reading reflects the long and stimulating journey it entailed. I hope you enjoy and learn from it as much as I have. Amaia Albizua Aguinaco ii Peer-reviewed journal publications Albizua, A., Williams, A., Hedlund, K., Pascual, U. 2015. Crop rotation including ley and manure can promote ecosystem services in conventional farming systems. APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY. 95. 54-61. DOI (10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.06.003) Conference oral presentations Albizua, A. Métodos de evaluación de los servicios ecosistémicos. Congreso: Life Tremedal organised by Gestión Ambiental de Navarra (October 2015). Señorío de Bertiz, Navarre (Spain) Albizua, A. Soil agrarian systems under intensification: Changing values and livelihoods in Navarre, Spain. Transformations 11th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (June 2015). University of Leeds, United Kingdom Albizua, A. Understanding today´s vulnerability for tomorrow’s planning. : IV Congreso de la red REMEDIA (May, 2015). Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain) Albizua, A. El riego, cuestionado para la adaptación al cambio climático en Navarra. Klimagune (December 2014). Bizkaia Aretoa, Avda Abandoibarra 3, Bilbao (Spain) Albizua, A. Political ecology of agrarian ecosystem services. EcoFINDERS 3rd Annual Meeting (February 2014). University of Manchester, United Kingdom Conference poster presentations Albizua, A. Governing ecosystem services: Institutional dynamics behind vulnerability. Summer School BC3: Climate Change on the road to Paris (July, 2015). Palacio MiraMar Donostia-San Sebastian (Spain) Albizua, A. Agrarian ecosystem services for human wellbeing. Perceptions and valuations under land intensification process. Summer School BC3: Climate Change: Understanding the Challenge (July, 2014). Palacio MiraMar Donostia-San Sebastian (Spain) Albizua, A. Tradeoffs and synergies of bundles of ecosystem services under a gradient of agricultural management. III workshop REMEDIA (April, 2014). Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y Del Medio Natural, en la Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) Albizua, A., Williams, A., Hedlund K., Pascual, U. Tradeoffs and synergies of bundles of ecosystem services under a gradient of agricultural management. Post-Graduate Course: Soil, Biodiversity and Life / Second Annual Consortium Meeting of EcoFINDERS (November, 2011). Wageningen University, The Netherlands iii Albizua, A. Synergies and trade-offs of agricultural management decision making under climate change. Political ecology of soil management. KLIMAGUNE From Euskadi to Rio + 20 (June, 2012). Bilbao (Spain) Dissemination talks Albizua, A., Maestre, S., Calvo-Boyero, D. and Grau, M. WACHI Workshop on Institutional analysis in Vielha (Lérida). Discusión sobre los fundamentos y análisis de instituciones (July, 2015) Albizua, A., Training Caravan (Ikerlariak gelan). Difusión sobre ciencia en centros escolares. Koldo Mitxelena, Olabide Ikastola and Carmelitas School in Vitoria-Gasteiz (2013, 2014) Albizua, A., Agricultural management intensity effects