FAO.org

Citation: iPES-Food (2016) From uniformity to diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems. International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. June 2016 www.ipes-food.org

A key message of the report is that input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts and must be consigned to the past in order to put global food systems onto a sustainable footing. Instead, the solution is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices, whether the starting point is highly-industrialized agriculture or subsistence farming in the world's poorest countries.

Citation: Phalan, B., Green, R.E., Dicks, L.V., Dotta, G., Feniuk, C., Lamb, A., Strassburg, B.B.N., Williams, D.R., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. and Balmford, A. (2016) Science 351 Issue 6272 pp. 450-451 DOI: 10.1126/science.aad0055

Expansion of land area used for agriculture is a leading cause of biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in the tropics. One potential way to reduce these impacts is to increase food production per unit area (yield) on existing farmland, so as to minimize farmland area and to spare land for habitat conservation or restoration.

Supplementary materials

Citation: Minang, P. A., van Noordwijk, M., Freeman, O.E., Mbow, C., de Leeuw, J. and Catacutan, D. (Eds) (2015) Climate-smart landscapes: Multifunctionality in practice. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya

Landscapes yield multiple benefits. The landscape approach considers how management of interconnected components of the landscape can reap multiple benefits and balance commercial, social and environmental concerns. 

Outcome of the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case, London 6 June 2015, providing an overview on why investors should invest in landscapes and presenting six key thematic areas that emerged from discussions.

Citation: van Noordwijk, M. and Leimona, B. (2010) CES/COS/CIS paradigms for compensation and rewards to enhance environmental services. Working paper No. 100. World Agroforestry Centre, Bogor, Indonesia

The current use of the term Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) covers a brpoad spectrum of interactions between ES-suppliers and ES-beneficiaries. A broader class of mechanisms aims at ES enhancement through compensation or rewards (CRES). This paper examines three paradigms: 'Commoditized ES', 'Compensation for Opportunities Skipper' and 'Co-Investment in Stewardship', CES, COS, and CIS, respectively through RUPES action research sites in Asia.

Citation: Wunder, S., Wertz-Kanounnikoff, S. and Ferraro, P. (2010) Payments for Environmental Services and the Global Environment Facility: A Scientific Advisory Panel (STAP) advisory document. Global Environment Facility.

PES represents a new paradigm of 'conditional conservation' that promises to be more efficient and equitable, and which can also help raise additional environmental funding. This paper provides a strategic analysis of scientific and global funding issues to guide the GEF on how to use PES effectively to deliver global environmental benefits.

Citation: Porras, I., Grieg-Gran, M. and Neves, N. (2008) All that glitters: A review of payments for watershed services in developing countries. Natural Resources Issue No. 11. International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK. 

This report reviews the current status of payments for watershed services in developing countries. It highlights the main trends in the evolution of these schemes; synthesizing the available evidence on their environmental and social impacts, and drawing lessons for the design of future initiatives.

Citation: Pagiola, S., Agostini, P., Gobbi, J., de Haan, C., Ibrahim, M., Murgueitio, E., Ramirez, E., Rosales, M., Ruiz, J.P. (2004) Paying for biodiversity conservation services in agricultural landscapes. Environmental Development Paper No. 96. World Bank, Washington.

Adoption of improved silvopastoral practices in degraded pasture areas is thought to provide valuable local and global environmental benefits, including biodiversity conservation, However, these practices are insufficiently attractive to individual land users for them to adopt them spontaneously, particularly due to their high initial costs. This paper describes the contract mechanism developed for the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Ecosystem Management Project, which was implemented with financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project tested the use of the payment-for-service mechanism to encourage the adoption of silvopastoral practices in three countries of Central and South America: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.