NATF320 L14 Biodiversity Agriculture

growing human population

from 7.2 billion to 9.6 to 10.9 billion

much of the increase is expected to happen in africa (higher fertility rates and a recent slowdown in the pace of fertility decline)

the global biomass of mammals

the total mammal biomass is dominated by livestock and humans

the primary contributors to the biomass of wild mammals are large herbivores, for wild marine mammals, balleen whales contribute more than half of this mass

how to feed the world without destroying the planet

reduce food loss and waste

shift to more sustainable diets e.g. flexitarian diet

• increases the feability of the paris agreement cliamte goals, reduces GHG emissions, especially methane from ruminant enteric fermentation, increases forest and other natural land

increase livestock and pasture productivity, but agriculture intesnfication can also have negative impacts on biodiversity

improve soil and water management

different strategies to balance production and biodiversity (land sparing, agroforestry ad other land sharing strategies)

agricultural expansion and intensification

potential biodiviersy loss due to three agricultural development pathways

• intensification effects on biodiversity are lower than the effects of expansion

• intensification produced a maximum of 7% loss species richness and 13% loss abundance

• combination of expansion and intensification has the greatest negative effect

strategies to balance production and biodiversity

land sharing

land sparing

agroforestry

working lands conservation

land sparing

seeks to use less land by intensifying agricultural production. this results in a spatial segregation of production and conservation areas

land sharing

assumes that production and conservation goals can be achieved on the same land. biodiversity friendly farming

working lands conservation - landscpaes that work for nature and people

1. maintains biodiversity

2. provides goods and services for humanity

3. supports the abiotic conditions necessary for sustainability and resilience

it incorporates aspects of both sparing and sharing

emphasizes the critical role of managing the matrix for species conservation to complement PAs

some sensitive species will not inhabit silvopastures → working lands should be seen as complements rather than replacements for protected areas

but even sensitive speceis may be able to move through wooded or shrubby habitats more readily than through simplified agroecosystems

ag

agroforestry

contributes to biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes by increasing structural complexity and enhancing habitat and landscape heterogeneity

agroforests are composed native tree species that retain part of the local structure of a forest, such as big trees that increase the shading of the understory layer

Local scale0

• increase in canopy close in agroforestry systems leads to

greater abundance of inserctivrorus birds

cocoa agroforets

integreated in forested landscpaes have greater richness and baundance of frugivorous, and abundance of forest birds

the increase in cattle pastures has a negative effect on birds

local scale: increeae in canopy closure in agroforestry system leads to greater abundance of insectivorosus birds

conservation implications

there is some potential for intensifying agriculture at a relatively low cost for biodiviersy, but only if enoguh woodland remains in the landscape

pure land shairng or sparing strategies might not be optimal, instead, mixes of agricultural systems of varying intensities could provide a better balance between agriculture and biodiversity

deforestation and agricultural commodities

expansion of commercial agricultura (both alrge and small scale) and tree plantations are the greatest drivers of deforestsation

seven key commodities

• cattle, soy, palm oil, wood fiber, coocao, cofffee an rubber (cattle,soy, palm 53%

telecopuling

refers to socioeconomic and environemtnal interactions over distancest

elecoupled land-use footprints of global consumption

internatinal food trade and globalized agriculture production result in telecouplings → domestic food consumption releis on distant production

agricultural production and human widllife conflits

human widllife conflicts occur when wildlife damage crops, threaten, kill or injure people and domestic animals