Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2026
Authors
Giovanna Ottaviani AalmoAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
María Bustamante Liria Concetta Maria Messina Simona Manuguerra Andrea Santulli Giovanna Ottaviani AalmoAbstract
Despite significant progress in understanding the complexity of food systems’ challenges, there remains a lack of clarity around how these systems can undergo transformative change and what is required to enable such shifts. This paper focuses on social innovation as a promising mechanism for addressing structural challenges and reconfiguring food systems toward sustainability, equity, justice, and resilience. Our main contribution is the design of an actionable guidance that helps practitioners and researchers explore and leverage the transformative potential of social innovations. This guidance emerges from a dialogue between a key framework for analyzing social-ecological transformations and recent advancements in Transformative Social Innovation (TSI) theory. By incorporating insights on adaptive, bottom-linked governance and relational dynamics into the SES processual framework, we strengthen its applicability to TSI analysis and make it more adaptable for real-world contexts. We apply this guidance to a case study in Western Sicily’s aquatic food systems, where a long-standing social innovation – rooted in Living Lab methodologies and collaborative governance – demonstrates the potential to challenge dominant values by reconfiguring dominant social relations, empower local actors, and engage with both deep and shallow leverage points, contributing to systemic transformations. By combining cross-field dialogue with empirical application, this paper offers both practical tools for analyzing and designing transformative social innovation processes and practical insights into how social innovations can contribute to more sustainable, resilient, and equitable futures. It directly speaks to practitioners, scholars, and policy makers interested in enabling systemic transformation through socially embedded innovation processes.
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a fishery control scheme that happens to be first best in the context of a Gordon‐Schaefer model with asymmetric information about effort/harvesting costs. It is widely acknowledged that in the absence of regulations, competition between vessels leads to a competitive game wherein the outcome is inefficient. We introduce a management scheme that regulates the fishing industry through an individual convex tax on effort or on catches. The shares of this tax can be traded in a market, thus solving problems related to asymmetric information. This can be achieved since heterogeneous fishing firms are individually stimulated to solve the same optimality problem as a social planner would. We apply this model to the Northwest Mediterranean demersal fishery as a case study.
Authors
Lampros LamprinakisAbstract
The valorization of seafood by-products is often framed as a technical opportunity, yet adoption in practice depends on whether small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can embed new systems in their operational, economic, spatial, and regulatory realities. Drawing on survey-based evidence from Greek fisheries and seafood enterprises, the analysis identifies key operational and economic constraints and translates them into a configurational model of adoption credibility for blue SMEs. In the proposed TIDE framework, adoption credibility depends on alignment across four distinct dimensions: Technological Fit, Institutional Enablement, Deployment Fit, and Economic-Organizational Fit. The framework links firm-level conditions with techno-economic performance metrics, including cost–benefit indicators (e.g., CAPEX/OPEX per unit, avoided disposal costs, payback period) and system optimization variables, such as throughput variability and process efficiency. The theoretical insights illustrate that optimal valorization outcomes depend on the alignment between system design and SME-specific constraints, particularly in relation to deployment models (on-site units, shared hubs, and mobile services). The study provides a structured approach for integrating cost–benefit analysis and technical optimization with real-world adoption conditions, offering practical guidance for designing scalable, low-CAPEX/OPEX valorization solutions.
Authors
Marit Jørgensen Ragnhild Borchsenius Ellen Elverland Frøydis Gillund Khaled Murad Agha Kauê de Sousa Ievina SturiteAbstract
A stable supply of high-quality forage is essential for the economic sustainability of milk and meat production, the most important agricultural sectors in Norway. Successful forage production relies on selecting species, cultivars, and seed mixtures suited to the diverse agroecological conditions, which vary widely in latitude and altitude. Climate change modifies production boundaries unpredictably. Without on-farm performance data, there is a risk of recommending new varieties or seed mixtures that underperform in farmers' fields. To address this, we propose the tricot method: a participatory, large-scale, and cost-effective testing approach where farmers test new seed mixtures directly in their fields. This approach involves many farmers in conducting small, simple experiments. Each trial consists of an incomplete block with three options out of the total ten options in the trial. Farmers evaluate these options based on predetermined criteria using digital tools. These mini trials, combined with data on management, climate, and soil, are collected into the ClimMob software, which performs statistical analyses and provides feedback. When all data are aggregated, this approach can provide robust statistical results on optimal seed mixtures for various local conditions. This method also strengthens collaboration between researchers, advisors, and farmers, contributing to more sustainable and resilient agricultural practices.
Authors
Marit Jørgensen Ragnhild Borchsenius Ellen Elverland Frøydis Gillund Khaled Murad Agha Kauê de Sousa Ievina SturiteAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Habtamu Alem Diress Tsegaye Alemu Ibrahim Issifu Daniel D.N. Nortey Linda Bana Denis W. Aheto Belachew Gizachew ZelekeAbstract
Mangrove condition reflects interactions among ecological pressures, livelihood dependence, institutional arrangements, and biophysical constraints on regeneration. This study compares seven purposively selected rapid-appraisal sites in Ghana's Greater Amanzule Wetlands in the Western Region and the Lower Volta Delta. Evidence combines May 2025 site appraisals, 14 semi-structured interviews, three group discussions, spatial and secondary ecological information, and historical livelihood context from GLSS7 (2016–2017). Institutional functioning was assessed descriptively through rule recognition and participation, monitoring and responses to violations, and collective action, without assigning unsupported site-level scores. Visible disturbance was lower in the Western sites, with a median score of 2 (range 2–3), than in the Lower Volta sites, where the median was 4. Stakeholder accounts also indicated more consistently recognised rules and participation in the Western system, while implementation was described as less consistent in the Lower Volta. Monitoring responsibilities, frequency, and responses to violations were insufficiently documented in both systems, preventing comparison of monitoring effectiveness. Because governance evidence was primarily regional and sites were purposively selected, these findings represent a descriptive association between two coastal systems, not seven independent institutional observations or a causal institutional effect. Hydrology, hydroperiod, sediment supply, salinity, geomorphology, and the scale of pressure also condition disturbance and regeneration opportunities. Effective responses should therefore combine participatory rule implementation, collective action, transparent monitoring arrangements, livelihood measures, and restoration strategies matched to local biophysical conditions and the geographical scale of dominant stressors.
Abstract
We invite projects working on soil and water challenges to participate in an interactive session on Integrated Systems Approaches for Soil Health and Water Challenges. The session will combine short project inputs with guided group discussions, focusing on understanding soil–water problems as interconnected, non-linear systems involving multiple drivers and actors. Projects may contribute a short framing presentation and/or actively participate in the interactive exercise. The goal is to foster shared learning across projects and illustrate how a systems approach supports more coherent analysis and solution development.
Authors
Lampros LamprinakisAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered