Fewer sectors of society are as symbiotic with biodiversity, as agriculture, fisheries and forestry. While these sectors depend heavily on biodiversity and ecosystem services, their respective impacts on biodiversity may threaten food security and the provision of ecosystem functions and services that are vital to humanity. At the same time, some management practices serve to maintain habitats that support biodiversity and the generation of ecosystem services.

Many options to improve farming’s ecological footprint are known and many of which are knowledge intensive but can generate additional environmental social and economic advantages. Farmers, fishers and forest users, however, need more than a set of technical solutions. They need an integral vision that supports them along the way: to conserve or restore degraded habitats, improve production in a sustainable and efficient way, and getting better returns for their products. Higher productivity, within sustainability limits, means more land for conservation and less pressure on remaining natural habitats.