Biodiversity and food security: from trade-offs to synergies

Abstract

Biodiversity and food security are connected in many ways. Across scales from genes to species, landscapes, and biomes, biodiversity is an important resource for humanity. It is the key for a broad range of services provided by ecosystems. Biodiversity helps regulate the nutrient cycle and water (e.g., floods) and mitigates impacts of climate change. Biodiversity is also of direct importance for human well-being and for cultural and other values including recreation. The provisioning of clean water and diverse food supply makes it vital for all people. Biodiversity at all levels, including the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems, is lost at alarming rates. Critical factors for these trends are habitat destruction, global warming, and the uncontrolled spread of alien species. Pollution, nitrogen deposition, and shifts in precipitation further affect biodiversity.

Shift in soil organic carbon and nitrogen pools in different reclaimed lands following intensive coastal reclamation on the coasts of eastern China

“…In accordance with new coastal development strategies of China, approximately 5780 km 2 of coastal wetlands will be converted to other land use types by 2020 1 . However, coastal reclamation has been reported to bring serious implications for marine and coastal ecosystems, such as loss of coastal habitats and biodiversity 5 , leading to the deterioration of marine environments 6 , declining ecosystem service function 4 , and accelerating landscape fragmentation 4 .…”

Élevage et territoires : quelles interactions et quelles questions ?

“…Ceci implique aussi que les acteurs locaux, au-delà de ceux des filières, contribuent à la définition des trajectoires de développement de l'élevage qui iraient dans le sens de la durabilité des territoires. Il y a donc des enjeux à intégrer, dans l'approche du changement, ce que peuvent apporter des processus de gestion concertée entre acteurs agricoles, de filière et acteurs non agricoles explorant les synergies et dépassant les « trade-off » (Cramer et al, 2017). Le territoire est une échelle d'action publique qui prend de plus en plus d'importance, c'est également une échelle d'action collective et d'approche des transitions (Geels, 2002) entre acteurs du secteur de l'élevage et avec d'autres catégories d'acteurs qui semble de plus en plus pertinente à considérer.…”

From the Research on Socially-Sustainable Agriculture (42)

“…Biodiversity is also of direct importance for human well-being and for cultural and other values including recreation. The provisioning of clean water and diverse food supply makes it vital for all people [Cramer et al 2017[Cramer et al , pp. 1257[Cramer et al -1259.…”