PES - Role of Agriculture

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations- FAO

Payments for Environmental Services (PES) from Agricultural Landscapes

Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA)Español Français

In biodiversity conservation

Conserving agricultural biodiversity

Concerns over the loss of agricultural biodiversity – the biodiversity associated with agricultural ecosystems – through homogenization of agricultural production systems have been raised in recent years. Proper management of agricultural biodiversity is based on conservation and sustainable resource use.

Agricultural biodiversity is the biodiversity associated with agricultural ecosystems and is known as the multitude of plants, animals and micro-organisms indispensable in sustaining key functions for food production (17). It is the outcome of the interactions among the environment, genetic resources and the agricultural practices. It yields direct and indirect use values: higher levels of agricultural biodiversity may generate reduced pest incidence, improved soil nutritional levels, crop pollination, and hydrological functions. Agricultural biodiversity also generates significant option values in conserving genetic resources that can be the basis for the development of new crop varieties and animal breeds (18). This includes biodiversity above and below the ground. Soil management practices as applied under conservation agriculture can significantly enhance soil life and below ground biodiveristy (see table 2.3).

Table 2.3 – Agricultural Practices and Biodiversity Protection (21)

Ecosystem Service	Farm-Level Management	Landscape-Level Management
Habitat for wild terrestrial species	Protect breeding areas, maintain pure water sources, wild food sources in and around farm plots, timing of cultivation; increase crop species/varietal diversity	Natural area networks in and around farms, public and private protected areas
Connectivity for mobile species	Farm hedgerows, windbreaks, removal of impenetrable barriers	Natural area networks in and around farms
Protection of threatened ecological communities	Restore or protect farm patches of natural habitat	Maintain corridors connecting natural habitat fragments through farm and other lands
Protection of wild species	Elimination of threats fromtoxic chemicals, protect breeding areas, use non-lethal pest control practices	Establish barriers to keep wildlife from farmlands, provide compensation to farmers for wildlife damage to stocks and crops
Habitat for aquatic species	Prevent pollution of waterways by crop and livestock wastes and agri-chemicals; protect or restore on-farm wetlands	Establish natural vegetation along stream banks, protect or restore wetlands

Concerns over the loss of agricultural biodiversity through homogeneization of agricultural production systems have been raised in recent years. Two major concerns arise: increasing levels of genetic vulnerability -a widely planted crop and variety is susceptible to a pest or pathogen that creates the potential for widespread crop losses and genetic erosion and secondly, genetic erosion itself (loss of genetic resources through extinction of a variety or a crop due to the replacement of indigenous varieties with improved ones) (19).

Proper management of agricultural biodiversity is required in order to preserve the key-functions of agro-ecosystems. There is the need to develop a wide range of practices which differ according to the degree of human intervention in the natural system, ranging from the highly managed ex situ gene and seed banks to in situ conservation which takes place in farmers’ field, ponds or undisturbed wilderness areas (e.g. maintaining wild relatives of cultivated species in wilderness areas). The two approaches are complementary: the ex situ collections preserve a static set of genetic resources, while in situ efforts preserve a dynamic process of evolution, as genetic resources adapt to changing pressures from natural and human selection (20).

Box 2.2 – Environmental service provision in Madagascar’s uniqueness (22)

If there was a real market for biodiversity, Madagascar would be rich: in fact, Madagascar has one of the world’s largest assemblages of unique plants and animals (as it is the sole owner of 11,200 endemic plant species and 144 endemic mammals). But there is no organized market for biodiversity, and Madagascar is poor. Forests are being converted to low-productivity maize and rice cultivation, some fields are rapidly degraded and abandoned, and some forest irreversibly lost. Although the obstacles are formidable, markets for environmental services may offer a long-run solution. Deforestation in Madagascar releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Although the country’s contribution to global warming is tiny, a global market for CO2 emission reductions could provide financing for sustainable land management. A programme for reducing global emissions might be able to offer farmers more for forest conservation than the proceeds of low-yield agricultural production. And over the very long run, the uniqueness of Madagascar’s biodiversity assets and growth in ecotourism demand could yield a lucrative income stream.

(17) CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) (2000). Agricultural biological diversity: review of phase I of the program of work and adoption of a multi-yaer work program.Fifth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity – COP V/5. 15-26 May 2000, Nairobi.

(18) Lipper L., and D. Zilberman. (2005). Policies to promote the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity, In: Cooper J., Lipper L. and Zilberman D. (eds), Springer Science+Business Media Inc., New York, NY, 10013, Ch. 19.

(19) FAO. (1997). The State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome.

(20) FAO. (2007). The State of Food and Agriculture 2007. Part I: Paying farmers for environmental services. Rome.

(21) idem

(22) Chomitz, K.M. (2006). At loggerheads? Agricultural expansion, poverty reduction, and environment in the tropical forests. World Bank policy research report. Washington, DC, 20433.