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Agriculture, agroecology and biodiversity

Agricultural production is one of the greatest threats to our planet’s remaining biodiversity. Increasing demand for animal protein, our growing human population and policies promoting biofuel production are some of the chief culprits, where agricultural intensification has resulted in farmlands becoming unable to support the diverse ranges of birds and wildlife they once could. Up to 70% of the world’s fresh water is used for agricultural production and according to Birdlife International, in Europe nearly a third of identified Important Bird Areas are threatened by agricultural intensification. Further afield, nearly two-thirds of bird species are found in forests, many unable to live elsewhere and yet more than one million hectares of tropical forest are destroyed annually for commodity crops, biofuels, paper and timber. Coupled with major biodiversity loss, deforestation accounts for around one fifth of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions each year. The million dollar question now surging its way across myriad spectrums of the environmental, economic and human rights sector: can the current agricultural system feed our burgeoning human population without destroying the planet? Can we have low-input farming methods which enhance the environment, rather than degrade it, and can agricultural development and biodiversity protection mutually support one another? The more I come to learn about endangered species, ecosystem degradation and all facets of ecocide, the more glaringly obvious it becomes just how intertwined issues of food security are with biodiversity protection. I thus felt it was time to bring this conversation into Biodiversity, and I hope to eventually produce a double Special Issue on this deeply complex topic. Our Biodiversity News section describes the Global Biodiversity Outlook Fourth Report. A flagship CBD publication, it assesses progress towards the implementation of its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, noting how reaching these joint objectives requires major changes in society. This includes major transformations for achieving sustainable farming and food systems, such as restoring ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, reducing waste and losses in supply chains, and addressing shifts in consumption patterns. According to Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, ‘scientific evidence today demonstrates that agroecological methods outperform the use of chemical fertilisers in boosting food production, whilst supporting biological life...and conventional farming relies on expensive inputs, fuels climate change and is not resilient to climatic shocks’. Agroecology can be defined as ecological approaches to agriculture that views agricultural areas as ecosystems, concerned with the ecological impacts of agricultural practises. Colin Tudge, co-founder of the Campaign for Real Farming writes for us about agroecology, describing it as a method of ‘Enlightened Agriculture’ in his Forum piece Agroecology and biodiversity: the kind of farming we need to secure our food supply is also wildlife friendly. He describes how a whole new system of agriculture is needed if we are to protect biodiversity, and how Britain needs about 10 times as many farmers as it has now: a whole new generation with a new mindset. An expansion of the demographic transition model: the dynamic link between agricultural productivity and population argues that one of the greatest threats to biodiversity is the accelerating environmental degradation due in large part to the near exponential growth of the human population. From Southern Cone arid lands, across Atacama, to the Altiplano: biodiversity and conservation at the ends of the world invites us to consider how arid lands are under increasing pressure from growing populations and anthropogenic disturbance from resource extraction, water diversion, introduced species, pollution, and inadequate management for long-term sustainability, asserting how ecosystems such as these must be considered as conservation priorities, due to their role in harbouring unique endemic species and evolutionary novelty. The case for banning diclofenac and the vanishing vultures provides an overview of how vulture species like Gyps (Gyps bengalensis, G. indicus and G. tenuirostris) are under persistent threat from non-steroidal diclofenac: a drug used for treating minor aches, pains and fevers in humans, but often misused illegally for commercial livestock, resulting in dire consequences for these vital avian raptor species. The authors call for stringent banning of these toxic drugs, as well as interim measures like captive breeding, provision of supplemental food at ‘vulture restaurants’ (areas where fresh and poison-free meat and/or carcasses are provided), and ‘vulture safe zones’ integrated with intensive conservation campaign efforts. Ernie Small, our regular and invaluable Blossoming Treasures author writes Golden Rice – a food fight to enhance the unsustainable monarch of mega-crops