Assessing and spatializing the risks of negative impacts of invasive wild pigs for the crop-farming and livestock sectors in the State of São Paulo

• Grant number: 23/14693-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Grantee: Clement Patrick Michel Harmange
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos Avançados (IEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/06694-8 - BIOTA SYNTHESIS - Nucleus of Analysis and Synthesis of Nature-Based Solutions, AP.BTA.NPOP

Abstract

Faced with a growing global population, agriculture is ahead a paradox. On one hand, it must meet the ever-growing demand for food production, driving agricultural intensification. On the other, it must reduce the environmental consequences of such intensification, which jeopardizes ecosystem services and favours disservices to agriculture. In this context, strategies to reconcile agricultural development and the preservation of ecosystems is now a pressing challenge. However, the question of how to reduce the non-negligible loss of productivity and human well-being caused by ecosystem disservices, like pest-induced crop damage or disease outbreaks in livestock farms, remains paramount to optimizing agricultural productivity and promoting sustainable farming systems. Focusing on wild pig-a species ranked among the 100 worst invasive species and the 5th animal species for which the reported economic costs of invasion are highest (e.g., $800 million/year in the United State)-this project aims to provide a unified framework for assessing and managing the risks of negative impacts on agriculture. The objectives are: (1) to model wild pig occurrence (hazard) in response to the environment across the state of São Paulo; and (2) to characterize exposure and socio-economic factors of vulnerability, i.e., factors affecting the extent of impacts on human societies. This will involve innovative analytical development (integrated modelling) to link wild pig occurrences from multiple data sources to the environment. By applying the risk assessment framework, the results should allow to identify high-risk areas for crop damage and/or disease transmission to farm pigs. This project should provide a quantification and spatialization of the risks posed by wild pig, and guidelines for territorialised resource allocation and management to promote sustainable agricultural systems.