Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification

Rasmussen, Laura Vang; Coolsaet, Brendan; Martin, Adrian; Mertz, Ole; Pascual, Unai; Corbera, Esteve; Dawson, Neil; Fisher, Janet; Franks, Phil; Ryan, Casey M.

doi:10.1038/s41893-018-0070-8

Cited by 227 publications

(179 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Building a solid human capital foundation for ecologically-intensified farming, we enclose pest-induced nutritional deprivation (and cascading livelihood impacts) within an overarching food systems framework. Our work accentuates how biodiversity-based techniques can help meet food security needs by fortifying agro-ecosystem functionality (Godfray et al, 2010; Stephens et al, 2018), and thus generate ample spillover benefits for collective societal welfare (Rasmussen et al, 2018; Pretty et al, 2018). If the current biodiversity crisis is a warning sign of impending agro-ecological imbalance, swift and deliberate action can prevent food-related socio-economic hardship from becoming a recurrent feature of our uncertain future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The framework of food systems lends itself to fuse ecological facets of global change -e.g., species invasion-with social or human aspects, as to optimally interpret their societal outcomes (Ericksen, 2008; Ingram, 2011). As basis for many of today’s food systems, conventional agriculture seldom provides simultaneous positive outcomes for ecosystem service provisioning and human well-being (Garibaldi et al, 2017; Rasmussen et al, 2018), and often allows biotic shocks to proliferate and cascade e.g., into socio-economic domains (Wyckhuys et al, 2018). A stabilization or strengthening of the ecological foundation of food systems can bolster resilience and dampen such ill-favored externalities (Cox, 1978; Fraser et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human Demographic Outcomes of a Restored Agro-Ecological Balance

Wyckhuys

Burra

Pretty

et al. 2019

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42 43 44 As prominent features of the Anthropocene, biodiversity loss and invasive species are 45 exacting serious negative economic, environmental and societal impacts. While the 46 monetary aspects of species invasion are reasonably well assessed, their human and social 47 livelihood outcomes often remain obscure. Here, we empirically demonstrate the (long-48 term) human demographic consequences of the 1970s invasion of a debilitating pest 49 affecting cassava -a carbohydrate-rich food staple-across sub-Saharan Africa. Successive 50 pest attack in 18 African nations inflicted an 18 ± 29% drop in crop yield, with cascading 51 effects on birth rate (-6%), adult mortality (+4%) and decelerating population growth. The 52 1981 deliberate release of the parasitic wasp Anagyrus lopezi permanently restored food 53 security and enabled parallel recovery of multiple demographic indices. This analysis 54 draws attention to the societal repercussions of ecological disruptions in subsistence 55 farming systems, providing lessons for efforts to meet rising human dietary needs while 56 safeguarding agro-ecological functionality and resilience during times of global 57 environmental change. 58 59 60 61

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Demographic Outcomes of a Restored Agro-Ecological Balance

Wyckhuys

Burra

Pretty

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…However, modern BC explicitly balances ecological risks with multi-faceted benefits, and its judicious use can thus safely defuse invasive species impacts (Bradshaw et al, 2016;Paini et al, 2016), ease vector-borne disease burden (Benelli et al, 2016), and exert stabilizing effects on global commodity markets . Moreover, as BC resolved 80% losses of breadfruit i.e., the 'staff of life' of Pacific Islanders (Kirch & Ralu, 2007) or enhanced dietary carbohydrate intake of root, tuber and bananaconsuming communities in eastern Indonesia and PNG, it raised the carrying capacity of local food systems (Mottesharrei et al, 2014;Dangour et al, 2017;Gillespie & van den Bold, 2017), enhanced workforce productivity (Haggblade et al, 2007) and generated 'win-win' outcomes for human and natural capital (Rasmussen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity-based innovations fortify agricultural growth in Asia-Pacific economies

Wyckhuys

Lu²,

Zhou

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The Green Revolution (GR) is widely credited with alleviating famine, mitigating poverty and driving aggregate economic growth over the past 6 decades. In Asia, GR technologies secured a tripling of rice output, with one-off germplasm improvements providing benefits beyond US$ 4.3 billion/year. Here, we unveil the magnitude and macro-economic relevance of parallel biodiversity-induced productivity growth in non-rice crops from 1918 to 2018. We empirically demonstrate how biological control (BC) defused invasive pest threats in multiple agricultural commodities, ensuring annually-accruing (on-farm) benefits of US$ 22.6 billion/year. Scientifically-guided BC permitted 73-100% yield-loss recovery in critical food, feed and fiber crops including cassava, banana, breadfruit and coconut. As such, BC promoted rural growth and prosperity even in marginal, poorly-endowed, non-rice environments. By placing agro-ecological innovations on equal footing with input-intensive measures, our work provides lessons for future efforts to mitigate invasive species, restore ecological resilience and sustainably raise output of global agri-food systems.

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“…Applying ecological principles to agriculture calls for coupled innovations (Roep et al, 2003;Wiskerke and Van der Ploeg, 2004;Rasmussen et al, 2018), where changes are not only made in the bio-technical domain, but also in the economic, administrative and innovation support domains (Tittonell et al, 2016;Meynard et al, 2017). Such reconfiguration of food systems is not only complicated in itself; it is also complex because multiple societal actors are involved, which results in feedbacks that create unexpected emergent societal dynamics.…”

Section: Socio-economic Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%