Ecoagriculture
Encyclopedia
Ecoagriculture describes landscapes that support both agricultural production and biodiversity
conservation, working in harmony together to improve the livelihoods of rural communities.
While many rural communities have independently practiced ecoagriculture for thousands of years, over the past century many of these landscapes have given way to segregated land use patterns, with some areas employing intensive farming practices without regard to biodiversity impacts, and other areas fenced off completely for habitat or watershed protection. A new ecoagriculture movement is now gaining momentum to unite land managers and other stakeholders from diverse environments to find compatible ways to conserve biodiversity
while also enhancing agricultural production.
and the Future Harvest Foundation published in 2001 called “Common Ground, Common Future” (McNeely and Scherr 2001). The report was later expanded to become a book called “Ecoagriculture: Strategies to Feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity” (McNeely and Scherr 2003). The study confirmed the dominant influence of agriculture on wild species and habitats around the world, and also identified promising examples of land use strategies and practices that benefited both. The international non-profit "EcoAgriculture Partners" was incorporated in 2004 to promote ecoagriculture globally, with Scherr as President and CEO and McNeely as one of the independent governing board members. Scherr and McNeely edited a second book in 2009, entitled "Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture" (Scherr and McNeely 2009).
as a unit of management. A landscape is a cluster of local ecosystems with a particular configuration of topography
, vegetation, land use, and settlement. The goals of ecoagriculture –- to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services, manage agricultural production sustainably, and contribute to improved livelihoods among rural people –- cannot be achieved at just a farm or plot level, but are linked at the landscape scale. Therefore, to make impact, all of the elements of a landscape as a whole must be considered.
Defining a landscape depends on the local context. Landscapes may be defined or delimited by natural, historical, and/or cultural processes, activities or values. Landscapes can incorporate many different features, but all of the various features have some influence or effect on each other. Landscapes can vary greatly in size, from the Congo Basin
in west-central Africa
where landscapes are often huge because there are vast stretches of apparently undifferentiated land, to western Europe
where landscapes tend to be much smaller because of the wide diversity of topographies and land use activities occurring close to each other.
is the most dominant human influence on earth. Nearly one-third of the world’s land area is heavily influenced by cropland or planted pastures. An even greater area is being fallowed as part of an agricultural cycle or is in tree crops, livestock grazing systems, or production forestry. In addition, most of the world’s 100,000+ protected areas contain significant amounts of agricultural land. And over half of the most species-rich areas in the world contain large human populations whose livelihoods depend on farming, forestry
, herding
, or fisheries.
Agriculture as it is often practiced today threatens wild plant and animal species and the natural ecosystem services
upon which both humans and wildlife depend. Over 70% of the fresh water withdrawn by humans goes to irrigation for crops, causing a profound impact on the hydrological cycles of ecological systems. Moreover, fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural waste threaten habitats and protected areas downstream. Landclearing for agriculture also disrupts sources of food and shelter for wild biodiversity
, and unsustainable fishing practices deplete freshwater
and coastal fisheries.
Additionally, an increase in the planting and marketing of monoculture
crops across the globe has decreased diversity in agricultural products, to the extent that many local varieties of fruits, vegetables, and grains have now become extinct. Given that demands on global agricultural production are increasing, it is imperative that the management of agricultural landscapes be improved to both increase productivity and enhance biodiversity conservation. Wild biodiversity increasingly depends on agricultural producers to find ways to better protect habitats, and agriculture critically needs healthy and diverse ecosystems to sustain productivity.
The mainstreaming of ecoagriculture approaches will be crucially dependent upon mobilizing local communities to become leaders in ecoagriculture, as teachers and as advocates for political and institutional change. Communities facing similar challenges can share questions, ideas, and solutions with each other. Local communities also need effective processes for sharing their expertise with national policymakers and the international community and thus play a more central role in settinge coagriculture objectives in policy and program development.
to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, were put forth by the United Nations
in 2000, to be achieved by 2015. Ecoagriculture strategies will be essential to achieving the MDGs, particularly for hunger and poverty, water and sanitation, and environmental sustainability.
The MDGs will not be reached without securing the ability of the rural poor to feed their families and gain income, while at the same time protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem services that sustain their livelihoods. Of the estimated 800 million people who do not have access to sufficient food, half are smallholder farmers, one-fifth are rural landless, and one-tenth are principally dependent on rangelands, forests and fisheries. For most of them, reducing poverty and hunger will depend centrally on their ability to sustain and increase crop, livestock, forest, and fishery production.
A key opportunity for enhancing progress towards the MDGs is investment in locally-driven land management approaches –- such as ecoagriculture strategies –- that build upon synergies between rural livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and food security.
, permaculture
, agroecology
, integrated natural resource management, organic agriculture, agroforestry
, conservation agriculture
, protected area management, and many others. In fact, ‘ecoagriculture’ landscapes often feature many of these approaches. Ecoagriculture draws heavily on these and many other innovations in rural land use planning and management. The landscape management framework defined by ecoagriculture has four particularly important characteristics:
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
conservation, working in harmony together to improve the livelihoods of rural communities.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
while also enhancing agricultural production.
History
The ecoagriculture movement was first recognized internationally in a joint study of the World Conservation UnionWorld Conservation Union
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
and the Future Harvest Foundation published in 2001 called “Common Ground, Common Future” (McNeely and Scherr 2001). The report was later expanded to become a book called “Ecoagriculture: Strategies to Feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity” (McNeely and Scherr 2003). The study confirmed the dominant influence of agriculture on wild species and habitats around the world, and also identified promising examples of land use strategies and practices that benefited both. The international non-profit "EcoAgriculture Partners" was incorporated in 2004 to promote ecoagriculture globally, with Scherr as President and CEO and McNeely as one of the independent governing board members. Scherr and McNeely edited a second book in 2009, entitled "Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture" (Scherr and McNeely 2009).
Approach and Practitioners
Ecoagriculture is both a conservation strategy and a rural development strategy. Ecoagriculture recognizes agricultural producers and communities as key stewards of ecosystems and biodiversity and enables them to play those roles effectively. Ecoagriculture applies an integrated ecosystem approach to agricultural landscapes to address all three pillars -- conserving biodiversity, enhacing agricultural production, and improving livelihoods -- drawing on diverse elements of production and conservation management systems. Meeting the goals of ecoagriculture usually requires collaboration or coordination between diverse stakeholders who are collectively responsible for managing key components of a landscape.Landscape Scale
Ecoagriculture uses the landscapeLandscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
as a unit of management. A landscape is a cluster of local ecosystems with a particular configuration of topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, vegetation, land use, and settlement. The goals of ecoagriculture –- to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services, manage agricultural production sustainably, and contribute to improved livelihoods among rural people –- cannot be achieved at just a farm or plot level, but are linked at the landscape scale. Therefore, to make impact, all of the elements of a landscape as a whole must be considered.
Defining a landscape depends on the local context. Landscapes may be defined or delimited by natural, historical, and/or cultural processes, activities or values. Landscapes can incorporate many different features, but all of the various features have some influence or effect on each other. Landscapes can vary greatly in size, from the Congo Basin
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
in west-central Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
where landscapes are often huge because there are vast stretches of apparently undifferentiated land, to western Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
where landscapes tend to be much smaller because of the wide diversity of topographies and land use activities occurring close to each other.
Importance of agriculture areas for biodiversity conservation
AgricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
is the most dominant human influence on earth. Nearly one-third of the world’s land area is heavily influenced by cropland or planted pastures. An even greater area is being fallowed as part of an agricultural cycle or is in tree crops, livestock grazing systems, or production forestry. In addition, most of the world’s 100,000+ protected areas contain significant amounts of agricultural land. And over half of the most species-rich areas in the world contain large human populations whose livelihoods depend on farming, forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
, herding
Herding
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group , maintaining the group and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. While the layperson uses the term "herding", most individuals involved in the process term it mustering, "working stock" or...
, or fisheries.
Agriculture as it is often practiced today threatens wild plant and animal species and the natural ecosystem services
Ecosystem services
Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...
upon which both humans and wildlife depend. Over 70% of the fresh water withdrawn by humans goes to irrigation for crops, causing a profound impact on the hydrological cycles of ecological systems. Moreover, fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural waste threaten habitats and protected areas downstream. Landclearing for agriculture also disrupts sources of food and shelter for wild biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, and unsustainable fishing practices deplete freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
and coastal fisheries.
Additionally, an increase in the planting and marketing of monoculture
Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
crops across the globe has decreased diversity in agricultural products, to the extent that many local varieties of fruits, vegetables, and grains have now become extinct. Given that demands on global agricultural production are increasing, it is imperative that the management of agricultural landscapes be improved to both increase productivity and enhance biodiversity conservation. Wild biodiversity increasingly depends on agricultural producers to find ways to better protect habitats, and agriculture critically needs healthy and diverse ecosystems to sustain productivity.
Bridging conservation and agriculture
Traditionally there has existed a divide between conservationists, who want to set land aside for the protection of wild biodiversity, and agriculturalists, who want to use land for production. Because more than half of all plant and animal species exist principally outside protected areas –- mostly in agricultural landscapes –- there is a great need to close the gap between conservation efforts and agricultural production. For example, conservation of wetlands within agricultural landscapes is critical for wild bird populations. Such species require initiatives by and with farmers. Ecoagriculture provides a bridge for these two communities to come together.Farmers as stewards in ecoagriculture
Farming communities play a vital role as stewards of their ecosystems and biodiversity. Their dependence on their land and natural resources necessitates a conservation ethic. Agricultural productivity critically depends upon a range of ecosystem services. Wild species often also play an important role in providing livestock fodder, fuel, veterinary medicines, soil nutrient supplements and construction materials to farmers, as well constituting an essential element of cultural, religious, and spiritual practices. The dominance of agriculture in global land use requires that ecoagriculture approaches be fostered by rural producers and their communities on a globally significant scale. To do this, farmers need to be able to conserve biodiversity more consistently in ways that benefit their livelihoods. Experiences from around the world suggest that there are a number of incentives to encourage and enable farmers and their communities to preserve or transition towards ecoagriculture landscapes:- Many management practices that improve ecosystem health also benefit farmers by reducing production costs, raising or stabilizing yields, or improving product quality. Intensive rotation grazing systems practiced in Europe, the United States, and Zimbabwe have been shown to reduce dairy production costs compared to stall-fed systems, while also reducing risks of land degradation and improving wildlife habitat.
- Farming communities are especially motivated to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services critical to their own livelihoods and cultural, spiritual, or aesthetic values. To protect their access to local water sources and medicinal plants, for example, farmers in western Kenya have mobilized to protect threatened forests in and near their communities. And in some agricultural landscapes in West Africa, 'sacred groves' are the principal remaining areas of native forest.
- Farmers are seeking new income opportunities from product markets that value supplies from biodiversity-friendly production systems. More than 80 eco-certification programs now provide opportunities for farmers to receive higher prices for products produced with environmentally friendly practices.
- Farmers can gain new income opportunities from payments for ecosystem services provided by non-farm beneficiaries of their ecological stewardship. These opportunities include carbon emission offset payments for carbon sequestration in soils and trees and water quality protection, among others.
- Farmers are seeking ways to comply with the goals of environmental regulation, in ways that also maintain or improve their agricultural livelihoods. In the US, farmers in the Chesapeake BayChesapeake BayThe Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
watershed are incorporating perennial vegetative buffer strips around stream banks, which provide habitat niches for birds and wildlife, to both help meet water quality regulations and to diversify their output.
Ecoagriculture land management practices
Agricultural landscapes that aim to achieve the objectives of ecoagriculture –- enhanced biodiversity conservation, increased food production, and improved rural livelihoods –- should be managed in ways that protect and expand natural areas and improve wildlife habitats and ecosystem functions, in collaboration with local communities to insure their benefit. Specific land management practices that may be incorporated include:- Plan and manage protected areas together with local farming, pastoralist, and forest communities in their landscapes. Community-conserved areas on lands owned by farmers and pastoralists are important for ecosystem-wide management of biodiversity. The more ownership/engagement these communities have in the management of protected areas, the more successful the landscape will be overall in contributing to the three goals of ecoagriculture.
- Link unfarmed areas, forest fragments, and wetlands within agricultural landscapes to develop habitat networks and corridors that support and expand the range of wild species. This approach is particularly useful to migratoryAnimal migrationAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individuals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is a ubiquitous phenomenon, found in all major animal groups, including birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and crustaceans. The trigger for the migration may be local...
species, which can include pollinators and natural enemies of agricultural pests. - Reduce or reverse conversion of natural areas to agricultural areas by improving the productivity of currently utilized agricultural, forestry, grazing lands and fisheries.
- Modify farming systems so they mimic natural vegetation and ecological processes. Integrating trees, shrubs, and grasses into agricultural production systems can improve ecosystem services across the whole landscape.
- Manage agricultural wastes to protect the surrounding ecosystem by encouraging shifts from input-intensive to ‘knowledge-intensive’ agricultural practices. These may include integration of crop, livestock, and nutrient systems; more precise application of organic and non-organic fertilizers; and crop rotations to improve soil fertility.
- Encourage soil, water, and vegetation management strategies that limit negative impacts on surrounding ecosystems. These practices include conservation tillage, improved fallow systems, on-farm crop or fertilizer trees, inter-cropping, and livestock diversification.
Role of traditional and local knowledge
Many indigenous peoples and rural communities have developed, maintained, and adapted different types of ecoagriculture systems for centuries. Local farmers, pastoralists, fishers, forest users, and other community members are the foundation of rural land stewardship. Their knowledge, traditions, land use practices, and resource-management institutions are essential to the development of viable ecoagriculture systems for their landscapes.The mainstreaming of ecoagriculture approaches will be crucially dependent upon mobilizing local communities to become leaders in ecoagriculture, as teachers and as advocates for political and institutional change. Communities facing similar challenges can share questions, ideas, and solutions with each other. Local communities also need effective processes for sharing their expertise with national policymakers and the international community and thus play a more central role in settinge coagriculture objectives in policy and program development.
Contribution of ecoagriculture to the Millennium Development Goals
The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), eight ambitious targets which range from halving extreme povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, were put forth by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in 2000, to be achieved by 2015. Ecoagriculture strategies will be essential to achieving the MDGs, particularly for hunger and poverty, water and sanitation, and environmental sustainability.
The MDGs will not be reached without securing the ability of the rural poor to feed their families and gain income, while at the same time protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem services that sustain their livelihoods. Of the estimated 800 million people who do not have access to sufficient food, half are smallholder farmers, one-fifth are rural landless, and one-tenth are principally dependent on rangelands, forests and fisheries. For most of them, reducing poverty and hunger will depend centrally on their ability to sustain and increase crop, livestock, forest, and fishery production.
A key opportunity for enhancing progress towards the MDGs is investment in locally-driven land management approaches –- such as ecoagriculture strategies –- that build upon synergies between rural livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and food security.
Comparison to similar objectives, e.g. Permaculture or Agroforestry
The values and/or principles of ecoagriculture have much in common with existing concepts, such as sustainable agricultureSustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
, permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
, agroecology
Agroecology
Agroecology is the application of ecological principles to the production of food, fuel, fiber, and pharmaceuticals. The term encompasses a broad range of approaches, and is considered "a science, a movement, [and] a practice."...
, integrated natural resource management, organic agriculture, agroforestry
Agroforestry
Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.-Definitions:According to...
, conservation agriculture
Conservation agriculture
Conservation agriculture [CA] can be defined by a statement given by the as “a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment” .Agriculture...
, protected area management, and many others. In fact, ‘ecoagriculture’ landscapes often feature many of these approaches. Ecoagriculture draws heavily on these and many other innovations in rural land use planning and management. The landscape management framework defined by ecoagriculture has four particularly important characteristics:
- Large scale: Ecoagriculture moves beyond the management of individual farms and/or protected areas to help detect and plan for interactions among different land uses at the landscape scale. In addition, important attributes such as wildlife population dynamics and watershed functions can be meaningfully understood only at the landscape scale. Also, in recognition of the fact that short-term tradeoffs may lead to long-term synergies, ecoagriculture advocates conducting analyses over longer temporal scales than is commonly done.
- Emphasis on synergies: Ecoagriculture emphasizes both the need and the opportunity to foster synergies among conservation, agricultural production, and rural livelihoods. The ecoagriculture research and monitoring agenda seeks, in part, to identify and document these synergies.
- Emphasis on stakeholder collaboration: Ecoagriculture can not be achieved by individual land managers. The management of ecoagriculture landscapes requires processes that support a variety of land managers (within the landscape) with diverse environmental and socio-economic goals to collaboratively develop coordinated conservation and production management approaches that collectively achieve conservation, production, and livelihood goals at a landscape scale.
- Importance of both conservation and agricultural production: Building on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecoagriculture brings conservation fully into the agricultural and rural development discourse by highlighting the importance of ecosystem services in supporting continued agricultural production. Ecoagriculture also identifies the conservation of native biodiversity and ecosystems as an equally important goal in its own right. It also supports conservationists to more effectively conserve nature within and outside protected areas by working with the agricultural community and developing conservation-friendly livelihood strategies for rural land users.