Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Hello,

I would like to submit the following work for consideration:

Cocoa Corporation is participating in 3-year study that merges drainage management authority objectives with conservation services that follow circular economy principles. The project aims to improve water quality, rebuild soil health and increase crop resiliency, while benefiting farm economics and creating new business opportunities throughout the region.

Specifically, the team will focus on reducing phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment loads to the Great Lakes Basin, and on increasing the ability of soils to hold water. The team projects that even a moderate level of uptake a few years beyond the project would greatly reduce agriculturally-derived nutrient loading to the Great Lakes.

Agricultural landowners in legal drainage districts must pay assessments to maintain and improve the public drainage systems that serve them. These assessments are generally based purely on acreage and/or linear extent of the adjacent drainage. This project will test new methods for calculating drain assessments that reward farmers who implement land management practices that improve soil and water quality. This adaptive drain fee assessment model presents the opportunity to test market-based approaches that work in support of the model.

Three treatment approaches will be tested in this project with pilot locations in Van Buren County, Michigan, Milwaukee River watershed, Wisconsin and a to-be-finalized location in Indiana. These pilots will yield information on both water quality benefits and economic opportunities associated with phosphorus capture. The project will create and propel a community of practice that includes drainage district authorities, conservation managers, agricultural retailers, commodity buyers, farmers, and food waste generators that will extend this work beyond the initial Great Lakes pilot locations.

Cocoa’s role in this study will be to produce a high quality humus compost from organic waste residuals, apply the compost in variable application rates, and then measure the effects of the compost on nutrient and water use efficiency as well as crop yields. The diverse microorganisms contained in our compost will help rejuvenate nutrient cycling and suppress soil diseases.

Best wishes,

Adam

Mainstreaming Biodiversity for improved Food security and better Nutrition is the need of the hour. The reality is there are many regions which are rich in Biodiversity in Agriculture and Forestry but highly poor in nutrition.

The biggest challenge is look at the successful case studies where these too are linked for mutual benefit.

I have sited few such studies below

www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/012/i0370e/i0370e10.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17215184

http://agrobiodiversityplatform.org/par/2014/10/21/forests-as-food-producing-habitats/

Governments should make nutrition as their priority over industry ,mono cropping systems and chemical input agriculture. Safety and diversity in diets are key to nutrition.

Sincerely,

Salome Yesudas

1) Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition.

1.1) Biodiversity is contributing in achieving food security and improved nutrition?

Fisherfolk is taking up mangroves conservation through lucrative mud crab farming: A case study from Maharashtra (India)

Source: https://scroll.in/article/865136/maharashtra-is-encouraging-fisherfolk-…

Mangroves are trees or shrubs which grows in tidal, chiefly tropical, coastal swamps, having numerous tangled roots that grow above ground and form dense thickets. They are also the breeding grounds and habitat for a variety of marine organisms. They have developed unique adaptations to the harsh conditions of coastal environments and also act as shoreline protectors from nature’s fury like Tsunami.

Maharashtra, a west coast province of India, has a mangrove area of 186 sq km. This too is being threatened due to chance in climate and various developmental activities like urbanization. But they are important nursery and feeding habitats for many marine and coastal species.

A crab species called mud crab is found in estuaries, backwaters and coastal areas.  It is also known as mangrove crab and is a good source of protein and is especially in demand during the summer season, when the fish catch drops.  Small fisher folk would wade through the mangroves and mud flats searching for crab holes to hunt them using long iron hooks.

During 2011, UNDP Global Environmental Finance initiated a four-year-long mangrove crab farming in 17 villages of Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra. Sindhudurg has a unique coastal and marine biodiversity. The program facilitated the fisher folk from these villages to go on aquaculture related institutional tours, get financial grants, form of self-help groups and set up pens, besides providing them with baby crabs, also known as crablets, for a mere $0.03 (Rs 2) per piece, which will fetch farmers $16 (Rs 1000) per crab after nine months of harvesting.  The season for crab farming in the mangrove region is from September to May and there is huge demand for mud crab in international markets.

Instead of digging artificial ponds for growing crabs, fisher folk create pens in existing waters, leaving the tidal water flowing to the mangroves undisturbed. They source the crablets from a hatchery and not from the wild; as such precautions ensure optimal growth of crabs in a healthy mangrove ecosystem. This not only creates a livelihood for the local community but helps in enabling the mangrove conservation as this habitat is an important factor in this livelihood. As the crab farmers utilise the space between the mangrove shrubs, the community no longer cuts the branches for fuel wood or other purposes.  The crabs are grown in the pens for six and eight months and fattened with remains of marine creatures like squid and eel to increases their sizes, guaranteeing the fisher folk a good price.

Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) have earned over 600$USD to 1200 $USD per year from this venture. One of the major challenges faced by them is about the availability of the mud crablets. Maharashtra government has allocated 3.5m USD to its Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation (MMBCF) part of which will be used to set up a crab hatchery in Sindhudurg, with the potential of producing one million crablets a year which will also ensure extending the UNDP Project to all coastal districts of Maharashtra.

1.2) the overuse of biodiversity compromise food security and nutrition?

Loosing livelihood: Overfishing cuts Maharashtra's catch by over the years – a case study

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Vasai-turns-into-a-one-… and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255635078_Trawling_and_by-catc… [accessed May 21 2018].

A few decades ago, Maharshtra fisherfolk used to catch a variety of fish with their traditional fishing gears like dol or bag nets. Now that’s changing. Experts blame the crisis mainly on overfishing caused by the explosion of trawlers and the introduction of purse-seine nets in the late 1990s. Together they accounted for almost 75% of state fish catch during 2105. While fish catch can fluctuate from year to year, a 2013 CMFRI analysis of long-term trends found that the many fish stocks are in decline. Study found that CAGR had declined from 3.2% in 1961-90 to 0.41% in 1990-2000 to -4.7% in 2000-2010. Apart from trawlers, traditional boats have also increased in size and number too.

Curse of purse seines

But the spread of purse seines, which are much larger than traditional nets, is seen as the most immediate threat. A purse seine is a large wall of net dropped into the ocean, with a string looping the bottom edge like a drawstring purse. It can corral 1-2 lakh tonnes of fish at one go, including vast quantities of commercially useless baby fish.

Bottom Trawl – Greed to destroy

Trawling is a controversial method of fishing due to the perceived lack of selectivity of the trawl net and the resultant capture of a huge quantity and diversity of non-target species, bottom flora and fauna including endangered species such as sea turtles, coupled with its effect on the marine ecosystem. The impacts of trawling on the physical, chemical and biological environment of the marine ecosystem and the diversity and quantity of by-catch and discards remain poorly documented for the tropical waters. In India, the by-catch landed at fishing harbours are utilized mainly for the production of manure and animal feed. Further, by-catch reduction devices have not been implemented in the field.

Wasting the future - juvenile bycatch

This juvenile bycatch results in fewer fish growing up to reproduce. A report by the V S Somvanshi expert committee last year warned against the use of purse-seine nets in near-shore waters (shallow waters), especially during breeding season. No new purse-seine licences are being issued, and mesh sizes have been restricted to reduce the catch of smaller fish. Sustainable fishing is the need of the hour. A 61-day ban on monsoon fishing already exists. Also, traditional fishermen voluntarily close their dol nets earlier than usual in the pre-monsoon months. This has resulted in good catch in subsequent months, but much of the Bombay duck catch has been the normal adult size.

Pollution

Still, other challenges remain. Pollution flows down the Vasai creek into the estuary, choking breeding grounds. Plastic has become part of the catch. And the proliferation of oil wells off Thane has shrunk traditional fishing grounds.

2) All agricultural sectors (crop and livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture) rely on biodiversity and on the ecosystem functions and services, they underpin. At the same time, these sectors may affect biodiversity through various direct and indirect drivers.

2.1) where a (sustainable) production system played a key role for the conservation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

Saguna Rice Technique (SRT) – A case study on bio-diversity conservation using Zero till, More yield & Better soil fertility method.

Source: https://sagunarice.wordpress.com/srt-an-introduction/

Saguna Rice Technique is a unique new method of cultivation of rice and related rotation crops without ploughing, puddling and transplanting (rice) on permanent raised beds. This is a zerotill, Conservation Agriculture (CA) type of cultivation method evolved at Saguna Baug, Neral, Dist. Raigad, Maharashtra.  This method combines multiple best practices of the cultivations such as Systematic Intensification of Rice (SRI), raised bed cultivation, green manure, etc.  The permanent raised beds used in this method facilitates ample of oxygen supply to root zone area while maintaining optimum moisture condition there.  The SRT iron forma (the tool will be better soon) facilitates planting of crop in predetermined distances enabling precise plant population per unit area. 

Multiple advantages of SRT

- For not having to do puddling, transplanting and hand hoeing, saves 30% to 40% cost of production & not requiring transplanting saves 50% treacherous labour.

- Loss of valuable silt (about 20%) during puddling can be prevented thus more fertile land can be handed over to next generation.

- Leaves of rice plants on SRT beds seem to be broader and head more upwards to sunlight than their counterparts in conventional method. They are likely to produce more biomass, means higher yield.

- SRT has ability to bring “Vigorous Uniformity” and higher yields in all soil types even in degraded soils and socio-economic groups. For example a very new farmer and well established awarded farmer and agricultural universities will attain about the same higher yield per unit area.

- Hand hoeing is strictly avoided in SRT. Once again this reduces hard-work and loosening of top soil making it vulnerable for washing away.

- Today’s recommend dose of fertilizer can be brought down considerably.

- A good number of earthworms are noticed on SRT beds during high rainfall days attracting unusual birds to SRT plots. This magic is due to suppressing all green growth with glayphoset, which decays and becomes instant food for the worms. Also ‘No-Till’ prevents destruction of E’worms life. Thus SRT proves to be Eco-friendly Farming. This is big positive gain.

- SRT insists keeping of roots of previous crop in the raised bed. The root network prevents soil from cracking and makes it more spongy. The same roots become valuable source of organic carbon which is uniformly distributed and oxygen pathways to root zone of next crop.

- Avoiding of puddling will drastically reduce diesel consumption, emission of CO2 over thousands of acres of paddy cultivation. Also SRT being aerobic method it will prevent methane generation. Both CO2 and methane are responsible for global warming.

- The traumatic shock caused to the rice seedlings during transplanting is avoided in SRT. This reduces possibility of pest & disease problem.

- Rice crop gets ready 8–10 days earlier. Also it saves time required for soil tilling between two crops. This leaves valuable 10–15 days of crop season for the farmer enabling him to take more than one crop in the same plot in a year.

- Due to excessive water in low-lying plots removing of harvested paddy from the plot for drying can be avoided with SRT raised beds.

- During milling of paddy, SRT will yield higher percentage recovery of grains.

- Non-use of heavy agricultural machinery for tilling in field will prevent compaction & formation of hard pan of lower strata of soil enabling better percolation of water into dipper soil & permanent establishment of earthworms.

- It is possible to get high returns (more than ₹ 5,00,000 per hector per annum) with crop rotation such as Basamati Rice (PS-5) in Kharif, leafy vegetables in Rabbi, Bold Groundnut (W-66) in Summer, while improving health of the soil.

- Damaged  soils can be recovered by SRT, which is caused by lashing, scrubbing & natural calamities, in quickest possible time.

2.2) where a(n) (unsustainable) production system played a key role for the degradation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issues notice to Punjab govt (India) over excessive use of pesticides

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/nhrc-issues-notice…

A study in 2011 found that the disease of cancer among farmers of the Malwa region of Punjab is caused due to excessive use of pesticides on the crops and that due to non-availability of the cheap treatment of cancer, about 70-100 cancer patients travel to Bikaner in Rajasthan for free treatment and cheap medicine at the Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Trust. The commission had closed the case the same year after a prompt and affirmative action was promised by the state government.

The Punjab government, at that time, had said that the farmers were being trained on the judicious use of pesticides even as some dangerous pesticides had been banned or their use was restricted.

"A study, reportedly conducted by the Baba Farid Centre for Special Children, an NGO suggests that heavy metals may be responsible for a steady decline in sperm count, disturbed ovulation cycles, increasing menstrual disorders, sterility, spontaneous abortions, premature births and birth defects," says NHRC.

"It is further stated that Punjab, especially the Malwa region is reeling under the 'cocktail effect' of heavy metals. The green revolution of the 60s' and 70s' resulted in the dumping of dangerous chemicals such as endosulfan and these pesticides are still in use in Punjab, long after they were banned," it said.

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to Punjab government and Union ministry of health and family welfare over a report that excessive use of pesticides and insecticides have left a residue of heavy metals in soil and groundwater causing various serious diseases to many people in the Malwa region of Punjab.

"The negligence by the state authorities has caused a grave violation of human rights of these people. Due to these diseases, poor victims are not able to lead a normal life with dignity. The insensitive approach of the administration is apparent. The state cannot leave its citizens, affected by various diseases due to soil and drinking water poisoning, to live in undignified and traumatized conditions," said NHRC in a statement.

According to reports, heavy metals are reaching the environment in dangerous amounts from reckless human activities due to their use in products like pesticides, herbicides, medicines, paints and cosmetics.

3) Good governance, enabling frameworks, and stewardship initiatives are needed to facilitate mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across agricultural sectors.

3.1) Do you have any examples of such enabling factors and initiatives or the lack of it?

<to be developed>

Examples couldinclude Cross-sectoral land use planning;

Macro-economic policy and public investment;

Elimination, phasing out and reform of perverse incentives harmful to biodiversity;

Product labelling and market certification schemes;

Green finance and private investment or others

3.2) Which partners need to be involved in institutional frameworks, policies and processes for biodiversity mainstreaming to strengthen them?

We must involve the local NGOs, farmers community and government.  We should look at incentivizing the farmers for their contribution.

4) The importance of biodiversity for improved food security and better nutrition is not always evident to those engaged in agricultural sectors.

4.1) What needs to be done to increase awareness of farmers, livestock keepers, fisher folks and foresters, their organizations and the industry of the relevance of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the food and agriculture production in their sector?

We must use the technological platforms like mKRISHI® to create awareness and create an open and transparent communication channel – between all relevant stakeholders

mKRISHI® CCA - An ICT strategy to enhance Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in vulnerable regions

Source: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/july2015/dineshkumar-singh.html

4.2) How can the technical and institutional capacity needed to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce the impact on biodiversity be developed?

Food availability from agricultural production (food per capita) in the Pacific Islands is either stagnating or declining over the last few decades and the causes are agro ecological including declining productivity of the production environment as caused by downward spiral of soil productivity, increased pests and diseases and genetic erosions. And socio-economic factors like changing dietary habits, land tenure systems and decreasing labour force as youths are not interested too much in farming. As consequence of our dietary change and lifestyle becoming more static – we as a region is the most prone to NCDs and of the 10 most NCD severe countries in the world at least 5 are from our region.

For this discussion the issue of biodiversity is the theme. For the sake of development the approach has been to go for a few varieties of major staples and promote for food and marketing. As a consequence this has resulted in narrowing down of the genetic base and in some instances because crops become more prone to pests and diseases – crops almost disappear from countries like taro leaf blight almost wiped out taro from Samoa in the mid-late 1990s. This has become a real issue in the Pacific Islands and hence strategy now is to widen the genetic base by introducing more crop accessions and developing local varieties. The Pacific Community (SPC) in Fiji then established the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) to conserve, clean up materials and promote use in the Islands. We also now promoting participatory selection where varieties and accessions are given to farmers to evaluate and select those they want and this has started to widen genetic base. This approach has revitalise taro in Samoa. The same approach is also taken for trees where traditional trees are lost and CePaCT is also set up to address this. This means we need to be seed smart by continuously evaluating our crop varieties against stressors – climate change and non-climate change. Water management is also very vital for this since many of our countries have been having droughts in the last decade.

The Pacific Islands also are the most vulnerable to climate change and we have adopted climate smart agriculture as an approach and in an integrated manner we are starting to promote smart technologies like nutrient and Carbon smart where we try to improve nutrient cycling and soil organic carbon in the soil so that below ground biodiversity is improved. To improve resilience, we are starting to promote reintroduction of traditional and multi-purpose trees to the systems which are long-term sinks. And by doing these smartly we improve resilience and adapt to climate change as well as attaining food and nutrition security.

In Pacific Islands, we now regularly getting category 5 cyclones so our food supplies are regularly disrupted by these natural hazards – cyclones, flash floods, and droughts. So for disaster risk reduction strategy genetic resources become vital for these . Countries must have ex situ sources of planting materials to quickly respond to these.

In a nutshell the Pacific Islands are vulnerable to not only climate variability but like atolls inherent soil and water availability are issues and these must be taken into consideration as prerequisite to promoting biodiversity for food security and better nutrition. But for biodiversity to work its promotion must be coupled with promoting lifestyle changes to counter the incidence of NCDs

Thanks

Siua

Siosiua Halavatau

Crop Production and Extension Coordinator

SPC Land Resources Division

Suva

FIJI ISLANDS

Decentralized Seed Systems for Climate Resilient Agriculture in Rainfed Areas - Designing an Appropriate Seed System for Climate Resilience and Growth of Rainfed Agriculture.

Background

Rainfed farming systems in India are diverse, complex and risk prone. Diversity of crops and varietal choices, local adaptability to suit different soils, topography and rainfall patterns (early or late rains for instance), and buffer seeds to meet contingencies; need to be factored into developing an appropriate seed system for climate resilient rainfed agriculture. A community managed, decentralize seed system in public-people-partnership with adequate budget allocation and legal provisions can best address the seed requirements of rainfed areas.

The Crippling Seed Economy of Rainfed Agriculture

• Served mostly by the informal seed sector without much public investment in research and development,
• Unavailability of quality seeds of diverse and locally adapted crops in time,
• Ne seed buffers for climate contingencies, high susceptibility to climate variability, contingency plans remain a rhetoric,
• High seed costs – particularly high volume seeds like groundnut,
• Seed constraints of inter-crops, compelling farmers to resort to mono-cropping,
• Loss of locally adapted landraces and (indigenous) agro-biodiversity,
• Poor public investment and non-availability of subsidies and access to state supported schemes.

The Seed Systems of India

1. Formal Seed Sector: Seed market of India worth US$ 2.7 billion and the sixth largest seed market in the world (ISF, 2013). The private and public sectors are the only players in the formal seed system. Much of the seed sales in India have been confined to supply and sale of only a handful of seed varieties of high yielding varieties (HYVs) and cash crops. Only 30-35 per cent of the seed requirement is met by the formal sector, and the rest 65-70 per cent is met from the farm saved, informal seed system.[1],[2],[3]
2. Public Seed Sector: Promotes HYVs, focuses on seed replacement ratio. Supplies only handful varieties of high-volume, low-value seeds. Highly centralized with poor outreach and caters to subsidized seed distribution. Confined to Seed Village Programme, promotion of certified seeds, QC, market regulation and research, and Small-scale farmers may not have access to certified seeds.
3. Private Seed Sector: Supplies cross-pollinated, high-value and low-volume seeds. Do not supply low-volumes of diverse low-value crops seeds and Low penetration in the rainfed regions.
4. Seed Village Programme: Meant for replacement of farmer saved seeds, the seed village programme (SVP) is ad-hoc and do not have any mechanism for procurement and supply of locally produced seeds to ensure a seed supply chain. 
5. Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Act 2001: There is a lack of mechanism for multiplication and integration of locally adapted landraces and the registered famers’ varieties into the formal seed supply chains. 
6. Informal Seed Sector: Predominantly farm produced, caters to 65-70 % (upto 90% in few Indian states) of seed requirement of the country with high potential for production of diverse crops. Self-pollinated, diverse indigenous land races and varietal choices adapted to local weather and soil conditions. Maintains buffer seeds to meet contingencies. Conserves indigenous agro-biodiversity and indigenous knowledge and practices. Retains farmers’ sovereignty over seeds and food production, and Minimizes investment on seeds, promotes local enterprises and economy.

Public-People-Partnership

• Location specificity, diversity and contingency are core to an appropriate seed system for rainfed agriculture; the present seed systems cannot meet these requirements,
• Public investment on an appropriate seed system for rainfed agriculture can stimulate growth, provide security against vagaries of climate change, and
• Government partnership with farmers’ organizations can best serve the purpose of rainfed areas.

In the above context, a National Workshop was organized by WASSAN (http://www.wassan.org/) on designing an appropriate decentralized seed system for rainfed agriculture in India and we are in the process of finalizing the proceedings, which will be shared soon.

where a(n) (unsustainable) production system played a key role for the degradation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

Earthworms improve the structure and fertility of soil by accelerating decomposition processes, enhancing nutrient cycling and facilitating water percolation. Conventionally plowed soils reduce earthworm populations drastically. The most vulnerable species to tillage are the larger ‘anecic’ earthworms that create permanent vertical burrows and feed on soil surface residues. However, they can bounce back if conventional plowing is replaced with less disruptive methods.

The findings published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology show a systematic decline in earthworm populations in soils that are ploughed every year. The deeper the soil is turned, the more harmful it is for the earthworms.

Please also visit our post at the Global Soil Biodiversity Blog "Ploughshares are swords… if you are an earthworm": http://blog.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/article/2017/06/07/ploughshares-…

My laboratory is currently comparing fungal community composition and diversity in root systems of coffee grown along the continuum from conventional to organic management at 25 sites in Costa Rica.  We find that coffee farmed under shade and without large inputs of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer hosts a more diverse fungal community with more fungi (hyperparasites) that have the potential to serve as biological controls for diseases on coffee.  Our work is still in its preliminary stages but suggests that these hyperparasites may be depauperate in conventionally-managed coffee, reinforcing reliance on fungicides to achieve disease control and may need to be restored in order for farmers to successfully transition from conventional to organic management.  Despite growing recognition that fungi play critical roles in nutrient cycling and disease control, many researchers and farmers continue to view fungi as playing exclusively negative roles in crop production.  There is an urgent need to shift this paradigm by providing farmers with concrete examples of ways in which intact fungal communities can minimize the need for external inputs for nutrient supply and disease control in agriculture.

Below ground biodiversity is very important for maintaining the resilience of soil ecosystem for sustainable agricultural production. Besides this, soil flora and fauna play a vital role in sustaining the above ground biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystems in general. Despite these, many modern agricultural development interventions pay little attention to these subterranean resources.

The well-being of the soil biodiversity is always being ignored in most agricultural development interventions which emphasise on intensification, large scale monoculture and some time in unstable (erosion prone) landscapes. This leads to decline in soil biodiversity which in turn disrupts agro-ecosystem by reducing plant diversity, organic matter decomposition, nutrient retention and cycling. Many soils become ‘’lifeless’’ and can only support crop production through application of fertilizers.  

Many agricultural systems have adopted intensive use of inorganic fertilizers and soil conditioners to compensate for the reduced soil regeneration capacity. However, these inputs further change soil physical and chemical environments, complicating the matters by irreversibly impacting negatively on the soil organisms. This makes farmers increasingly rely on inorganic fertilizers which is not sustainable in the long run in terms of production cost and environment. However, many farmers in Africa can ill afford the inputs leading to steady decline in productivity and production levels in regions.

It is therefore important that agricultural development interventions deploy appropriate strategies to safeguard the below ground biodiversity to ensure soil resilience and sustainable agro-ecosystem.

Biodiversity is contributing in achieving food security and improved nutrition?

While I think this is obvious, from many years working with small-scale farmers in SE Asia on "rice-based farming systems"  helping them convert to "organic" (agroecological) methods which support ecological health and abstain from chemical use.   It is clear this shift brings a quick and impressive return of the diverse flora and fauna that live in healthy rice ecosystems.   Fish are usually the most valued resource that returns, but also shrimp, crabs, good tasting snails and diverse wild vegetables (edible weeds).  All of this is natural biodiversity that is oppressed in a chemical intensive system but which returns with agroecological management and provides valued secondary - highly nutritional yields.  Beyond this these farming systems promote increased integration, (and thus increased agricultural biodiversity).  Bunds are not sprayed with herbicide but often widened and used to plant small fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables- providing additional healthy food.   While perhaps not a key point here, our project also identified many factors from these more diversified ecological "Rice-based Farming Systems" promoting increase resilience - specifically climate change resilence.   Diversity of yields is one of these factors.

In terms of Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Agriculture (and more)

As part of a collaborative effort of the Agricultural Biodiversity Community with Ileia / Farming Matters magazine we develop the March 2014 issue "Cultivating Diversity"   I think all of this issue (attached below) is relevant to your topic.

The article I submitted on pages 24-25, looks at what has been limiting the expansion of biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices.  

Now 4 years later, while I still feel what I have written is valid, I see much more of a deteriorization of the (traditional) knowledge on how to use the diverse resources in diverse agroecological / forest garden systems.  (Such as bamboo varieties for building, for cooking with, for weaving, for making ties, for eating, etc)  or the many dye plants, many traditional herbs, many wild/ perennial vegetables.   This links strongly with aging farmers whose children and grandchildren are not involved in farming.   And then with how biodiverse farming can provide a good livelihood for capable young people. 

While we have many good examples that are working well,  I am aware of some limitations and needs.  Such as a greater availability of small-scale appropriate technology / machinery for working in biodiverse farming systems such as forest gardens that could help with increase labor constraints everywhere.

Where a (sustainable) production system played a key role for the conservation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

From my experience what is known as "Forest Gardening" or "Organic Agroforestry" has perhaps the most impressive role in conservation of biodiversity for land-based systems.   In our network it is normal to have more than 100 intentionally grown "crops" in these systems.  However for scaling up (and which is the case with our gardens and most in our network)  one or more "key economic crops" is within the forest system (along with a high diversity of food crops, herbs, spices, hardwood trees, etc.)  

Well-documented are the Forest Gardens of Sri Lanka.   In terms of watershed/ forest restoration on a larger scale, the success of the Organic Forest Coffee Project initiated by Earth Net Foundation in Chiang Rai province, led to the signing of an MOU with Khuechae National Park and Lam Nam Kok National Park in 2016 to revitalize and restore the degraded forest of the National Park- an area of  3,200 hectares over 10 years together (2016- 2025) through the practice of Organic Agroforestry.  Coffee is the key (understory) economic crop.

An article I wrote (link below) describes the forest gardening system of farmer colleague Ms. Kanya Duchita in Chantaburi with key economic crops of Para rubber and tropcial fruits (Durian +) that co-exist with wild elephants (and many other wildlife).

http://regenerationinternational.org/2018/01/15/forest-gardening-space-place-wild-elephants 

1) Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition. Could you share examples?

I am going to state my sweet nation of Ethiopia with its smallholder farmer production system. Ethiopian farmers use diversified production system with application of biodiversity with in the subsector of crop production itself with rotation production system to maintain fertility, nutritional contribution to the household consumption and food security; furthermore they diversify with horizontal integration with livestock system especially cattle and small ruminants (sheep, goat, poultry, bee); yet with an increasing of chemical application and range land declines especially on the highlands of Ethiopia because of diversified reasons like population pressure; the so called industries are conquering the fertile land than marginal land; housing of urbanization use the fertile land than marginal land; and other factors pressurized the range or grazing land for highlanders to increase production system of livestock. These hamper the production system. But still the smallholder tries to diversify at homestead production.