La economía de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático

Abstract

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for the helpful comments and suggestions. Contact author: up211@cam.ac.uk; unai.pascual@bc3research.org.Recibido en junio de 2011. Aceptado en septiembre de 2011. ABSTRACT:Subsistence-based and natural resource-dependent societies are especially vulnerable to climate change. In such contexts, food security needs to be strengthened by investing in the adaptability of food systems. This paper looks into the role of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security in the face of climate change. It identifies agrobiodiversity as a key public good that delivers necessary services for human wellbeing. We argue that the public values provided by agrobiodiversity conservation need to be demonstrated and captured. We offer an economic perspective of this challenge and highlight ways of capturing at least a subset of the public values of agrobiodiversity to help adapt to and reduce the vulnerability of subsistence based economies to climate change. KEYWORDS:Climate change, adaptation, agrobiodiversity, economic incentives, resilience. JEL classification: Q18, Q24, Q54.La economía de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático RESUMEN: Las sociedades dependientes de recursos naturales de subsistencia son especialmente vulnerables al cambio climático. En este contexto, la seguridad alimentaria debe de fortalecerse mediante la inversión en la adaptabilidad de los sistemas alimentarios. Este artículo se enfoca en el papel de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad para la seguridad alimentaria ante el cambio climático y trata la agrobiodiversidad como un bien público que genera servicios básicos para el bienestar humano. Una vez que los valores públicos de la conservación de la agrobiodiversidad son puestos en relieve, éstos deben de ser puestos en valor. Aquí ofrecemos una perspectiva económica de este reto y subrayamos formas para la captura de varios valores públicos de la agrobiodiversidad para la adaptación al cambio climático.

Sustainability of Smallholder Livelihoods in the Ecuadorian Highlands: A Comparison of Agroforestry and Conventional Agriculture Systems in the Indigenous Territory of Kayambi People

“…Complementing this, the greater levels of agrobiodiversity in a system contributes to enhanced delivery of some important regulatory and provisioning ecosystem services such as pest and disease control, pollination, microclimate control, yield stability and efficiency, primary production, provision of habit, and nutrient and water cycling. Considering these benefits, the results of this study support the increasing body of evidence that agrobiodiversity provides better environmental and socioeconomic opportunities to sustain livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially in the context of global change [59,60]. Therefore the higher levels of agrobiodiversity found in AFS represent an important farming system asset to support the natural capital (natural resource base) [61,62] of agroforesters' livelihoods.…”

The diversity of gendered adaptation strategies to climate change of Indian farmers: A feminist intersectional approach

“…These findings are similar to those found in other mountain contexts in the world, for example in the Himalayan mountains (Regmi et al 2009), in the Pamir mountains (Partoev 2012; Zimmerer 2014) and in the Andean mountains (Narloch et al 2012). As noted elsewhere, such strategies are risk-smoothing in the context of climatic variability (Kotschi 2007; Lipper and Cooper 2009; Pascual et al 2015), especially in low-intensity agro-ecosystems (Pascual et al 2011; Hellin et al 2014). Women are especially concerned with complementing agro-biodiversity management with social ties and knowledge system management mainly through exchanges of knowledge and planting materials (crops and varieties in different fields).…”

Yam landrace diversity and distribution in Basketo and Dera Malo Districts, Southwest Ethiopia

“…Numerous studies highlighted the role of agro-biodiversity in providing enhanced nutrition (Yenagi et al, 2010, Pascual et al, 2011, environmental benefits (Perrings et al, 2006;Jackson et al, 2007), improved livelihoods for small-scale farmers (Keatinge et al, 2009, Jackson et al, 2010 and increased resilience to climate change (Padulosi et al, 2011;Ortiz 2011a;Guarino and Lobell, 2011). There is the erosion of the genetic resources of neglected and underutilized crops like yam (Dioscorea spp.)…”