Avoiding Future Famines

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Avoiding Future

Famines:Strengthening the

Ecological Foundationof Food Security through

Sustainable Food SystemsA UNEP Synthesis Report

Advance Copy


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Published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), June 2012

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ISBN: 978-92-807-3261-0Job Number: DEW/1526/NA

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CitationThis document may be cited as:UNEP, 2012. Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Foundation o Food Security through Sustainable Food

Systems. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya.

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Te United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) would like to thank the Advisory Committee, the Lead Authors,Reviewers and the Secretariat or their contribution to the development o this report.

Te ollowing individuals have provided input to the report. Authors and reviewers have contributed to this report in theirindividual capacity and their organisations are only mentioned or identication purposes.

Advisory Committee Members: Joseph Alcamo Chair (UNEP); Ademola Braimoh (World Bank); Elwyn Grainger-Jones(IFAD); Craig Hanson (WRI); Sylvie Lemmet (UNEP); rni M. Mathiesen (FAO); Alexander Mueller (FAO); Carlo Scaramella(WFP); Ibrahim Tiaw (UNEP); Juergen Voegele (World Bank).

Authors: Jacqueline Alder (UNEP); David Barling (City University London); Patrick Dugan (WorldFish Centre); Hans R. Herren(Millennium Institute); Helga Josupeit (FAO); im Lang (City University London); Uma Lele (Independent Scholar); CalebMcClennen (Wildlie Conservation Society); Donal Murphy-Bokern (Murphy-Bokern Konzepte); Sara Scherr (EcoAgriculturePartners); Rol Willmann (FAO); Norman Upho (Cornell University).

UNEP Editorial eam: Joseph Alcamo; Mario Boccucci; Fanny Demassieux; Sunday A. Leonard; James Lomax; MassimilianoZandomeneghi.

Scientic and echnical Reviewers: Ralph Ashton (Independent Consultant); Serge Garcia (Independent Consultant);Madhur Gautam (World Bank); Richard Harwood (Michigan State University); Kristen Kurczak (UNEP); Carlos Marentes(International Peasant Movement); Robert O. Mendelsohn (Yale University); Erling Moxnes (University o Bergen); RichardMunang (UNEP); Asad Naqvi (UNEP); Sophie Nguyen-Khoa (World Water Forum); Martina Otto (UNEP); Ivette Perecto(University o Michigan); Jake Rice (Fisheries and Oceans Canada); Jorn Scharlemann (UNEP, WCMC); Derek Staples(Independent Fisheries Consultant); Steven Stone (UNEP); Rashid Sumaila (University o British Columbia); Mamati embe(UNEP); Fatimah Yuso (Universiti Putra Malaysia).

Project Coordination: Sunday A Leonard (Project Management); Mario Boccucci; Fanny Demassieux; James Lomax.

Production eam and Secretariat Support: Sarah Abdelrahim (UNEP); Harsha Dave (UNEP); Pouran Ghaapour (UNON);

Marie-Christine Guedon (UNEP); Eugene Papa (UNON); Jinita Shah (UNON); Amy Wickham (UNEP).

Layout and Printing: UNON, Publishing Services Section, ISO 14001:2004 - certied.

Acknowledgements


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iii

Glossary .....................................................................................................................................................................iv

Acronyms and Abbreviations ...............................................................................................................................................v

Foreword .....................................................................................................................................................................vi

Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................................................vii

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1

Part 1 Challenges to the Ecological Foundation o Food Security ........................................................................4

Chapter 2: Te Ecological Foundation o Agriculture ..................................................................................................... 52.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................6

2.2 Te Ecological Foundation o Agricultural Production ..............................................................................6

2.3 Current Status o Agricultural Systems........................................................................................................ 8

2.4 Undermining the Ecological Foundation o Agriculture ..............................................................................9

Chapter 3: Ecological Foundation o Fisheries and Aquaculture ................................................................................... 153.1 An Overview O Fisheries And Aquaculture ............................................................................................. 16

3.2 Marine Fisheries ....................................................................................................................................... 183.3. Inland Fisheries.........................................................................................................................................22

3.4 Aquaculture ..............................................................................................................................................25

Part 2 Revitalizing the Ecological Foundation o Food Security ........................................................................28

Chapter 4: Increasing Resource Efciencies: Sustainable Consumption and Production in Food Systems ............................... 294.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................30

4.2 Te (Un)Sustainability O Current Food Systems ..................................................................................... 30

4.3 Sustainable Consumption .........................................................................................................................30

4.4 Waste In Te Food System ........................................................................................................................ 33

4.5 Improving Resource Eciencies O Food Supply Chains ......................................................................... 354.6 owards Resource Eciency A Need For Joint Action ........................................................................... 38

Chapter 5: Strategies or Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems ......................................................................... 395.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................40

5.2 Establishing More Sustainable Systems At Farm Scale ...............................................................................40

5.3 Developing More Sustainable Systems At Landscape Scale ........................................................................ 43

5.4 Scaling Up Sustainable Agricultural Systems ............................................................................................ 45

5.5 Te Role O Te Green Economy In Sustainable Agriculture ................................................................ 47

5.6 oward Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture Need For Collaboration .................................................... 48

Chapter 6: Strategies or Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture ................................................................................... 496.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................50

6.2 Improve Stock Management And Promote Fisheries Co-Management ...................................................... 50

6.3 Conserve And Protect Critical Habitat For Marine And Inland Fisheries ..................................................51

6.4 Minimize Land-Based Pollution o Protect Water Quality O Marine And Inland Fisheries ....................52

6.5 Improve Water Management For Inland Fisheries ..................................................................................... 52

6.6 A Policy Framework For Sustainable Aquaculture ..................................................................................... 53

6.7 Measures o Enhance Te Ability O Aquatic Ecosystems o Adapt o Climate Change ......................... 54

6.8 Appropriate Economic Strategies For Achieving Sustainable Fisheries ....................................................... 54

6.9 owards Ecologically Sustainable Fisheries ................................................................................................ 55

Reerences ................................................................................................................................................................... 56

tAble of contents


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ivAvoiding Future FAmines:

Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems

Abiotic components are non-living chemical and physi-cal components o an ecosystem responsible or the shaping othe ecosystems.

Anadromous reers to the migratory patterns o certain sh

(salmon, smelt, shad, stripped bass and sturgeon) which areborn in resh water, spend most o its lie in sea water and thenreturns to resh water to spawn.

Benthic zone reers to the ecological region at the lowestlevel o a water body such as an ocean, including the sedimentsurace and some sub-surace layers. Organisms living in thiszone are called benthos.

Biological corridor also reerred to as an ecological corridoror corridor o conservation, is the designation or a continuousgeographic extent o two or more ecosystems either spatially or

unctionally with the aim o restoring or conserving their connec-tivity.

Biotic components the boc componenso an ecosystemare the living organisms that exist in the system and which areresponsible or shaping the ecosystem.

Bottom trawling and dredging reers to an industrial sh-ing method that involves the dragging o large heavy nets alongthe sea oor or midway between the oor and the surace.Tese shing methods lead to the modication or destructiono sh habitats.

By-catch reers to sh that are caught unintentionally, whileintending to catch other sh. By-catches are unwanted andoten unused.

Carbon sequestration the capture and secure storage ocarbon dioxide (CO2) in order to prevent global warming.

Close-looped multi-species systems closed-loop multi-species systems involve arming dierent aquaculture speciessuch that wastes rom one species serve as eed or another.

Demersal species reers to an aquatic species that live on ornear the bottom o the sea or lakes.

Ecological ootprint a measure o the amount o resourcesrequired to make a product, as well as its environmental impacts.

Ecosystem services reers to the benets obtainable romthe complex interactions between living organisms and theirenvironment.

Environmental ow environmental ow reers to the quan-tity, quality and timing o water ows required to sustainspecic valued eatures o a reshwater ecosystem or orprotecting the species o interest or sheries and or conserva-tion o the ecosystem on which sheries depends.

glossAry

Eutrophication the overertilization o an aquatic eco-system by inorganic nutrients (e.g. nitrate, phosphate). Tismay occur naturally or through human activity (e.g., romertilizer runo and sewage discharge). It typically promotesexcessive growth o algae, which could consequently result in

the depletion o available oxygen.

Evapotranspiration reers to the transport o water into theatmosphere rom suraces, including soil (soil evaporation),and vegetation (transpiration).

Feed conversion ratio measures the eciency o howanimals (livestock or sh) convert eed mass to body mass. Itprovides an indication o how much eed will be required tothe animal. A low eed conversion ratio is important or prot-ability and reduced demand on resources.

Hydroponics is a technique or growing plants using mineralnutrient solutions without soil.

Leguminous trees trees that x nitrogen in their roots. Teycan increase crop productivity and economic returns.

Microclimate the specic weather conditions o a small areawithin a region.

Monoculture reers to the cultivation o a single crop withina given area over a period o time.

No-net-loss no-net-loss approach strives to balance unavoid-able habitat, environmental and resource losses due to economicdevelopment with replacement actions aimed at ensuring thatover-all, there is no net loss in these resources. In laymens term, itmeans to take something away, you must put something back.

Pelagic species reers to aquatic species that live near thesurace o coastal, ocean or lake waters.

Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance oagriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity,stability, and resilience o natural ecosystems.

Re-vegetating a process o replanting and rebuilding the soilo disturbed land.

Salinisation reers to the buildup o salts in soil, eventuallyto toxic levels or plants.

Siltation oten caused by soil erosion or sediment spill,siltation reers to the pollution o water by ne particulatematerials. It results in increased accumulation o sediments ina water body.


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Acronyms and Abbreviations v

CA Conservation Agriculture

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CFN Centre or Food and Nutrition

EAA Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture

EAF Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries

EBA Ecosystem Based Adaptation

FAL Chilean Fishery and Aquaculture Law

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation o the UnitedNations

FIP Fishery Improvement Programmes/Projects

GAP Good Agricultural Practice

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GLASOD Global Assessment o Soil Deterioration

HLPE High-Level Panel o Experts on Food Security andNutrition

IAA Integrated Agriculture Aquaculture

IAASD International Assessment o Agricultural Knowledge,Science and echnology or Development

IDF International Diabetes Federation

IFAD International Fund or Agricultural Development

INM Integrated Nutrient Management

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPM Integrated Pest Management

ISEAL International Social and EnvironmentalAccreditation and Labelling

ISRIC International Soil Reerence and InormationCentre

IQs Individual ranserable Quotas

Acronyms And AbbreviAtions

IUCN International Union or Conservation o Nature

IUU Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated shingshing

IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management

LCA Lie Cycle Analysis/Assessment

MPA Marine Protected Areas

MSC Marine Stewardship Council

MSY Maximum Sustained Yield

NAMAs Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions

NAPAs National Adaptation Programs o Action

NRM Natural Resource Management

OECD Organisation or Economic Co-operation andDevelopment

PES Payments or Ecosystem Services

RFMOs Regional Fisheries Management Organisations

SAI Sustainable Agricultural Initiative

SDC Sustainable Development Commission

SMEs Small and Medium Aquaculture Enterprises

SRI System o Rice Intensication

SRP Sustainable Rice Platorm

AC otal Allowable Catch

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

WFP World Food Programme

WHO World Health Organisation

WRI World Resources Institute


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viAvoiding Future FAmines:


I the world is to eed seven billion people, rising to overnine billion by 2050, then producing sucient, qualityood in a way that also keeps humanitys ootprint withinplanetary boundaries will be central.

Tere are our actors or pillars that underpin ood securityincluding access to ood and availability but increasinglyscientists are seeing the environment as perhaps the missing,underpinning th pillar.

Te environment supports agriculture in two undamental

ways: natural resources such as ertile land and adequatesupplies o reshwater are one domainthe other is theplanets ecosystem services such as the nutrient recyclingand soil stabilization provided by orests up to biodiversityincluding pollination services by insects such as bees.

Tis report Avodng Fuure Famnes: Srengenng eEcologcal Bass o Food Secury roug Susanable FoodSysems has been a unique collaboration o 12 leadingscientists and experts involved in world ood systems includingmarine and inland sheries.

Te institutions involved include the UN EnvironmentProgramme, the International Fund or AgriculturalDevelopment, the Food and Agricultural Organisation o theUnited Nations, the World Bank, the World Food Programmeand the World Resources Institute.

Te report provides detailed analysis o the many actorsthreatening the worlds ood supplies and its ability to continueto generate calories and proteins in the 21st century includingrom sheries. Yet it also provides a series o orward-lookingrecommendations and remedies to the many grim scenariosthat oten accompany the ood security debate.

Tese options depart rom the oten silver bullet approachthat so oten reduces the ood security debate to a small

handul o answers: instead they embrace the complexityo ood production and agricultural systems including theecological oundation.

Tey include building centralized storage and cooling acilitiesor small scale armers to help them reduce ood loss becausethey cannot get produce to market ast enough alongside newquality standards that can reduce ood waste at the level o theretail outlet and household, especially in developed economies.

Other proposals ocus on the promotion o more sustainable

and healthier diets in order to counter some o the trends inincreasingly afuent societies; better placing and managingagricultural systems within natural landscapes and addressingcoastal water pollution that threatens some sh stocks as aresult o dead zones.

Te underlying message is twoold hunger will never bemade history by just shoring up the ecological oundation yetconversely we will have less and less ood to distribute unlessthe central importance o the environment and ecologicalservices are actored in more comprehensively.

Tis report has been produced to inorm Heads o State andgovernments meeting at Rio+20 under the twin themes o aGreen Economy in the context o sustainable developmentand poverty eradication and an institutional ramework orsustainable development.

foreword

Achim SteinerUnited Nations Under-Secretary-General, andExecutive Director United Nations Environment Programme


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viiiAvoiding Future FAmines:


withdrawals. For example, the Millennium EcosystemAssessment projects a doubling o domestic waterwithdrawals in Sub Saharan Arica, and a 20% to90% increase in Asia, between the 1990s and the mid21st century.

qCompetition or land Agriculture might expectcontinuing competition or land rom bioenergy cropsand perhaps expanding cities. Some scenarios indicate

an increase in demand or land or bioenergy cropso about 0.8 to 1.7 million hectares per year between2004 and 2030. Te total surace area added duringthis period would be equivalent to the land area oVenezuela. It is possible that some or most o thisland could compete with ood production. Regardingurban areas, some experts believe that expandingcities will result in a minimal loss o armland,

whereas others estimate the loss o armland to citiesto be around 1.6 million hectares per year in the early2000s, and about 1.63.3 million hectares per yearbetween 2000 and 2030.

qConventional agricultural practices Conventionalpractices have a variety o impacts on the ecosystemservices underlying crop production. For example,mono cropping leads to a reduction o on-armbiodiversity and a subsequent increase in thesensitivity o crops to pests and diseases. In some cases,excessive tillage disrupts natural soil structure and soilloss, including soil carbon loss. High ertilizer loadingcauses unsustainable impacts on the environmentoutside o arms including eutrophication o surace

waters and contamination o groundwater.qraditional agricultural practices raditional

agriculture does not require the high articialinputs (ertilizer, energy and water) o conventionalagriculture, but i practiced inappropriately(cultivation o steep slopes, overgrazing) it can lead tosevere land degradation.

qDeorestation and pesticide contamination Deorestation and pesticide contamination o landsadjacent to armland can degrade o-arm biodiversity,including the destruction o organisms responsible orpollination o crops or natural pest control o crops.Te Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has reported adecline in pollinators in at least one country on every

continent (excluding the Antarctica).qClimate change Te impacts o climate change

will compound the preceding threats to agriculture.Impacts will include shits in crop growing zones, aninitial increase in crop productivity in cooler climates,an initial decrease o crop productivity in warmerclimates (including poor countries in the tropics

where ood security is an issue); but eventually, adecrease everywhere in crop productivity. Te IPCCreported that by 2020 potential rain-ed crop yieldcould decrease in some Arican countries by up to50% (relative to an historical period).

5.2 . Fisheries - Treats to its ecological oundationFAO has estimated that as o 2008, 53% o global

marine stocks are ully exploited, 28% overexploited,3% depleted, and 1% are recovering rom depletion.Similar estimates are not available or the inland shery.

Te ecological basis o marine sheries is under threatrom many actors including:

qOvershing is the oremost actor undermining the

ecological basis o sheries.qLoss o coastal habitat such as coral rees and

mangrove orests is also an important actor.Approximately 35% o mangrove orests and 40% ocoral rees have been destroyed or degraded over thelast decades.

qBottom trawling, dredging and destructive shingpractices such as the use o dynamite and cyanidealso lead to habitat loss or modication.

qDegradation o coastal water quality is a relativelynew threat to marine sheries. It is now known thatnutrient runo rom armland and municipalities is

one o the principal causes o new areas o coastaleutrophication and zones o severely reduced dissolvedoxygen and depleted aquatic lie. Tis has decreasedthe traditional area o marine and migratory shhabitat. o this point over our hundred such deadzones have been identied in coastal areas.

qClimate change will lead to warmer watertemperatures and a more acidied ocean which willhave many impacts on marine sheries. In particular,IPCC projects a global loss o 18% o the worlds coralrees over the next 3 decades due to multiple stresses,compounded by the impact o climate change. Tis

will shrink a very important sh habitat.

Te sum o scientic studies suggests that inland sheriesare threatened by a range o driving orces. However, nooverview exists o the state o inland sheries in the world.Such an overview is urgently needed in order to set policypriorities. Based on individual studies, some o the mainthreats to inland sheries are presumed to be the ollowing:

qInrastructure development such as dam constructionin river catchments is destroying or modiying inlandshery habitats. More than 50% o the worlds large

rivers have been ragmented by dams on their mainchannel and 59% on their tributaries.

qLand use change and removal o vegetation cover leadto increased runo, erosion and sediment pollutiono water. Human activities have increased sedimentow into rivers by about 20% worldwide.

qAgricultural expansion disrupts connectivity betweenoodplains and rivers oodplains are among themost productive habitat or inland sheries.

qAgricultural runo and domestic and industrialwastewater discharges are degrading the quality omany inland waters. Wastewater loadings to inland

waters in Arica may increase by a actor o our toeight between the 1990s and 2050.


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Executive Summary ix

6. Current patterns o ood consumption have contributedto making the world ood system unsustainable.

qAs countries become wealthier, per capita meatconsumption tends to increase. In general, moreresources (e.g., land and water) are required to producemeat as compared to grains and ruits. One studyindicates that 6 - 15m3 o water is required to produce

a kilogramme o meat (poultry, lamb or grain-ed bee )as compared to 0.4 - 3m3 or a kilogramme o cereals orcitrus ruit.

qAs people become more afuent, many take up pooreating habits with the consequence that diseases relatedto poor eating habits are increasing. Te WHO reportsthat diseases related in part to obesity and over-eatinglead to the death o at least 2.8 million people each year.

Te preceding paragraphs describe the direct causes oweakening o the ecological oundation o agriculture andsheries. Tese direct drivers in turn are inuenced by

underlying driving orces such as population growth, incomegrowth and changing liestyles/diets linked to urbanization.

Part II. Towards sustainable food

systems

Te means or securing the ecological oundation o oodsecurity is to build sustainable world ood systems.

7. Sustainable ood systems, as part o a new GreenEconomy, provide an alternative to current oodsystems and can help secure the ecological oundation

o agriculture and sheries.

Sustainable ood systems enable the production o sucient,nutritious ood, and at the same time conserve the resources

which the ood system depends on, while lowering itsenvironmental impacts. Such systems are based on a way othinking that views all the activities having to do with ood(producing, processing, transporting, storing, marketing andconsuming) as being interconnected and interactive.

Sustainable ood systems also all within the overarching concepto a Green Economy which has emerged over the past ew

years as a new economic way o thinking. Trough investmentin sustainable practices and technologies, the Green Economyresults in improved human well-being and social equity, whilesignicantly reducing environmental risks and ecologicalscarcities. All o the ollowing points are consistent with theseconcepts.

8. Tere are many options or achieving sustainable oodsystems.

9. One general way to make the world ood system moresustainable is to promote sustainable ood consumption.

Although current patterns o ood consumption havecontributed to making the world ood system unsustainable,

it is likewise true that sustainable diets could help makeit more sustainable. Promoting this type o diets makes animportant bridge between agricultural, environmental andhealth policies. Sustainable diets aim to:

(i) reduce the impact o ood production on resources andthe environment by encouraging consumption o oodsthat require smaller amounts o resources than others, and

(ii) enhance the nutritious value o peoples diets sothat ewer people will suer rom diseases related tomalnutrition or obesity.

Tere is still no international agreement about the details o asustainable ood diet, but most experts agree that consumers indeveloped countries should reduce their relative consumptiono meat and dairy products and proportionately increase theirconsumption o vegetables and ruit products. One option

would be to develop guidelines which could be tailored todierent regions.

10. Another general way to make the world ood systemmore sustainable is to reorient the ood supply chain.

Although signicant scaling up is still needed, progress isalready being made in this direction through:

(i) applying lie-cycle analysis as a tool to identiyopportunities or improving resource eciency in oodsupply chains,

(ii) programs or certication and standard-setting bypublic/private partnerships,

(iii) the adoption o enlightened sustainability policies by

some major ood manuacturers and retailers includingtheir commitments to purchase ood products romenvironmentally-riendly ood producers,

(iv) policy actions aimed at promoting co-innovativesolutions between the public, private sector, and armersat the national and international levels.

11. Food waste and loss are huge, but they can be reducedboth at the ront end o the ood supply chain and atthe retailer and consumer back end o the chain.

qGlobally, an estimated one-third o ood produced or

human consumption is lost or wasted, amounting to1.3 billion tonnes per year.

qIn developed countries, much o the ood wastage(40%) occurs at the consumer and retail end.

qIn the developing world, losses occur mainly inproduction and at the post-harvest stage. Up to 40% oood harvested might be lost beore it is consumed dueto the inadequacies o processing, storage and transport.

qTere are many good options or reducing the loss oood at the ront end o the ood supply chain (the partrom ood production to distribution o ood productsto retailers): assisting small scale armers to organisecentralized storage, transportation, cooling and otheracilities so as to reduce losses at the productionand post-harvest stages; providing training or ood


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xAvoiding Future FAmines:


producers to help them abide by ood saety standardsso that less ood needs to be thrown away because oviolations o these standards.

qLikewise, there are many alternatives or taking actionto reduce ood wastage at the back end o the oodsupply chain (retailers and consumers): increasingpublic awareness about the importance o not wastingood; relaxation o quality standards that do not

aect the taste or saety o ood such as weight, sizeand appearance; developing markets or sub-standardproducts and consumable products deemed as wastee.g., products with damaged packaging.

12. Strategies or making agriculture more sustainablecluster into two groups those on the arm scale andthose on the landscape scale.

13. On the arm-scale, many approaches have been oundto be successul in lowering the impact o armingactivities on natural resources and the environment.

Tese approaches include:

qImproving soil management and making agriculturalwater use more ecient.

qIncreasing plant eciency through integrated nutrientmanagement.

qControlling pests through integrated pest management.qUsing agroorestry techniques.qEmploying integrated livestock management.qImproving and maintaining diversity o genetic

resources.

14. Experience has shown that working on the arm-scalealone cannot achieve a sustainable agricultural system.

A more successul strategy is to combine arm-scaleactivities with a landscape approach which integratesarming and non-arming activities over a larger area.

A landscape strategy is a kind o regional planning process whichaims to achieve a landscape with multiple benecial purposes(ood production, wood production, recreation, housing)and achieve positive synergies between actors and interests.

A landscape approach is also a vehicle or engaging local

households, communities and other stakeholders in sustainableagriculture, and or providing a long term perspective or armingand non-arming communities. A landscape approach can leadto increased agricultural production and local livelihoods andincrease resilience o agriculture against climate change.

15. Tere are many options or scaling up models osustainable agriculture rom the arm and landscape scaleso that they can be used throughout a country. Tis wouldlikely give them a major impact on the world ood system.

Sustainable agriculture can be scaled up by:

qSupporting armers and community learning, orexample, by educating a new generation o agricultural

extension workers well versed in the techniques osustainable agriculture.

qExtending land tenure rights to armers to encouragetheir stewardship o the landscape.

qProviding preerential access to credits or armerswilling to invest in more sustainable practices.

qRewarding armers and arming communities orecosystem stewardship.

qDeveloping a common vision among manystakeholders about how agriculture and ood systemscan be managed in a region.

qStrengthening national and international institutions,as well as private organisations, or certiyingsustainably-grown arm products.

16. Economic strategies consistent with the GreenEconomy are also undamental to scaling upsustainable agriculture. Tese strategies include:

qScaling up investment by rationalizing export subsidies

and redirecting cash ows towards agriculturalinvestments.

qIncreasing public investment in research anddevelopment to strengthen public institutionalcapacity.

qEncouraging the inclusion o smallholder armers incollaborative supply-chain initiatives like certicationand labelling.

qImproving access to nance or smallholders so thatthey can engage in sustainable agriculture practices thatvalue the multi-unctionality o agricultural landscapes.

17. Investments in sustainable agriculture will have manypayos.

In order to enhance ood security, the FAO estimates thatannual agricultural investments to developing countries haveto increase to around USD 209 billion by 2050. Te UNEPGreen Economy report ound that investing 0.16% o globalGDP per year (USD 198 billion) in sustainable agriculture overthe period 2011-2050 would lead to:

(1) improved soil quality, increased agricultural yield andreduced land and water requirements or agriculture,

and,(2) an increase in GDP and the addition o up to 47

million jobs compared to the conventional scenarioover the next 40 years.

18. Te ecological oundation o marine and inland sheriescan be secured through their sustainable management.

qWhere technically easible, Maximum SustainedYields o marine sheries should be calculated, and theyshould be adhered to with the help o governance andenorcement arrangements and economic incentives.Experience has shown that the allocation o shingrights is essential to making a shery sustainable.

qIn poorer countries and or small scale marine sheries


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Executive Summary xi

it may be impractical to take a Maximum SustainedYield approach because o lack o technical andenorcement capacity. In these cases it has been shownthat a co-management approach can work in whichshers might agree to sh size or species limitations,seasonal closures o sheries, or other actions.

qEstablish networks o Aquatic Protected Areas thatprovide habitat protection or sh.

qFor inland sheries, it is important to assess minimumenvironmental ows or ow regimes, and theminimum water quality necessary to support a vitalshery. It is equally important to identiy measuresto ensure that these minimum standards are met,or example by leaving some stretches o riversimpoundment-ree.

qAlso or inland sheries, the approach o integratedwater resources management should be applied toensure that the needs o inland sheries are reconciled

with other legitimate user needs in a watershed.

19. Land-based pollution needs to be abated in order tomaintain the water quality o inland and coastal watersand to avoid endangering sheries in these waters.

As noted above, land-based sources o nutrients and otherpollutants rom arms, municipalities, and industries cause

water pollution o inland waters, which also nds its way tomany coastal waters. Te consequence is a reduction o shhabitat and intererence with sh production. Practical stepscan be taken to abate this pollution such as:

qIncreasing the eciency o ertilizer use which is a

main source o this pollution.qReducing soil erosion which carries nutrients into

surace waters.qreating municipal and industrial wastewater to remove

nutrients and other contaminants rom discharges tosurace waters.

qEncouraging national participation in the GlobalProgramme o Action (GPA) or the Protection o theMarine Environment rom Land-based Activities.

20. Economic strategies based on Green Economythinking can bolster the sustainability o sheries.

Action can be taken to:

qEliminate harmul subsidies that contribute toovershing and habitat destruction and redirect suchsubsidies into investment or sustainable sherymanagement and capacity building. otal subsidiesgoing to the global shery sector now amount to aboutUSD 25-30 billion each year.

qProvide incentives or sustainable sheries suchas subsidies or conversion o shing gears to lessdamaging alternatives or or a shit rom uel-intensiveshing methods to more labour intensive ones.

qIntroduce scal measures such as taxation and levieson harvest volume and increase nes on illegal,unreported, and unregulated shing to remove the

economic incentive or its continuationqEncourage the development o market-led supply chain

initiatives aimed at sustainable sheries such as FisheryImprovement Programmes/Projects.

qEncourage the adoption o certication and eco-labelling schemes or sh products that are incompliance with internationally agreed guidelines

21. Aquaculture, a main source o animal protein indiets around the world, can also be made moreenvironmentally riendly.

Fish raised by aquaculture are an important source o animalprotein in the daily diets o many people, especially Asians. Butaquaculture also has major resource and environmental impacts.

Aquaculture contributes to the depletion o the marine sherybecause marine sh are used as eed in sh arms, and wastewaterrom sh arms are also a major source o water pollution.

But steps can be taken to minimize these and other impacts by:

qMinimizing the arming o carnivorous species suchas salmon and shrimps that currently rely on capturesheries as ood supply.

qInorming aquaculturists about management practicesor minimizing environmental impacts o aquaculture.

qEncouraging, where easible, the integration o aquaculturewith agriculture or mangrove arming which have shownto make environmentally riendly combinations.

22. Securing the ecological oundation o the world oodsystem is a necessary condition or ood security.

o achieve a ood secure world, we must deal with its ourpillars ood availability, access, utilization and stability. Butunderlying these our pillars is the ecological oundation oagriculture and sheries. Tis oundation must be secured inorder to ensure that the ood system remains productive. Butthe current models o agriculture and shery exploitation, andother actors as well, threaten this oundation.

Solutions are within our grasp by making agriculture moresustainable on the arm- and landscape-scale, and makingshery exploitation more environmentally sound through a wide

range o options. How to achieve this? Studies have shown thatinvesting in sustainable ood systems can be greatly benecialrom the environmental, social and economic standpoint.But investments are not enough. Tese systems must also bebuilt upon a strong collaboration among armers, shers,governments, the private sector, consumers and civil society.

It is true that hunger cannot be alleviated nor amines avoidedonly by making the ood system environmentally sound.But neither can ood be produced perpetually by eroding itsecological oundation. So a secure ecological oundation is anecessary condition or a secure ood system.


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intoduton

chapt 1:

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2Avoiding Future FAmines:


As world population and its ood requirements havegrown through the years, human ingenuity has alwaysbeen able to keep pace with this growth by boosting oodproduction. A recent example has been the Green Revolution

which managed since the 1960s to increase production by

70% to 200%, depending on the continent. In so doing it hashelped meet the nutritional needs o a huge number o people,as well as lit many out o poverty (IAASD 2009).

But despite its accomplishments, it seems that the GreenRevolution is not enough to ully ensure ood security. Althoughood production has indeed increased, it has let many behind, withsome 925 million people still being counted as undernourishedas o 2010 (FAO 2010; IFRC 2011). Meanwhile, while hundredso millions go hungry, the growth in cereal productivity has beendeclining since 1985, and FAO estimates that 40% more cereal

will need to be produced by 2050 to eed the 9 billion people

expected by that year (FAO 2009).

How then can we meet the challenge o ood security? Onething we have learned is that ood security is not a simpleconcept; it has many socio-economic dimensions, and we needto act on all o them. A sense o this broad scope is captured bya denition rom the World Summit or Food Security:

Food secury exss wen all people, a all mes, ave pyscal,socal and economc access o sucen, sae and nurous oodo mee er deary needs and ood preerences or an acve andealy le. Te our pllars o ood secury are avalably, access,

ulzaon and sably. Te nuronal dmenson s negral oe concep o ood secury (WSFS 2009)

Te our dimensions or pillars as they are called here are:

qAvailability, in the sense that enough ood o adequatequality/nutrition is physically available to people;

qAccess, in that individuals can aord to purchasenutritious ood supplies; good nutrition is considered anessential aspect o ood security;

qUtilization, meaning that people have the resources to useood through not only an adequate diet, but also clean

water, adequate sanitation and other non-ood inputs to oodsecurity.

qStability, reers to the assurance that people will haveaccess to ood at all times, including during crises.

While the above our pillars certainly provide a useul rameworkor understanding ood security, there is also a vital envronmenaldimension o ood security that underlies them. In this report, wecall this the ecological oundation o ood security. By this wemean the natural stocks and ows that support the production oood in the world. We view this oundation as having two parts:

(1) the resource base supporting ood production, and(2) ecosystem services provided by nature that underlie

the production o ood.

For agriculture, the resource base includes the land and wateravailable or growing crops and raising livestock. Among theecosystem services vital to agriculture are soil ormation andnutrient cycling, on-arm biodiversity, o-arm biodiversity, andclimate conditions.

Te resource base o sheries consists primarily o their shstock and sh habitat (inland, coastal and marine waters, and

wetlands). Some o the ecosystem services upon which sheriesdepend are good water quality and other environmentalconditions, and adequate ood sources.

By undermining the ecological oundation o the ood systemwe put pressure on ood security in two ways. Firstly, we undercutthe basic natural conditions needed to produce ood (e.g. water,soil ormation, biodiversity). Secondly, we produce side eectsthat are not sustainable (groundwater contamination, pollutiono surace waters, greenhouse gas emissions).

Now, it is true that conventional agriculture has achieved

the benets o high production largely by replacing naturalgrowing conditions with articial external inputs. For example,erratic or absent rainall is replaced by irrigation; nutrientcycling by ertilizer application; and the natural equilibriumbetween biodiversity, plant disease and plant pests by geneticuniormity and agrochemical applications. But many expertsbelieve that the high energy, water, and other costs associated

with these inputs are even now not sustainable.

How do conventional arming practices draw down theecological oundation o agriculture? We will see in thisreport that pressure comes rom the monoculture style o crop

growing, rom the high loadings o ertilizer, and sometimesrom excessive soil tillage.

Not only has technology allowed us to substitute or naturalconditions on cropland, but it has also allowed us to extractmore sh each year rom marine and inland sheries. But thistoo may be temporary since maintaining high sh productionin the ace o overshing, pollution and other stresses looks lesssustainable every year. As we will see, good quality sh stocks arealready greatly depleted and water pollution and other actorsare reducing sh habitat in both resh and saline waters.

O course, these are all the immediate causes o the declineo the ecological oundation o the world ood system.Underlying these causes are more proound driving orces:population growth which leads to more ood consumers;increased income, causing, at least initially, a larger per capitaconsumption o ood; and increased urbanization bringingalong with it a change in liestyle and changing tastes or ood.

So i the ecological oundation o the worlds ood system isin decline, what should we do about it? Tis report proposes a

wide-ranging, encompassing solution called sustainable oodsystems covering not only agriculture but also sheries, and notonly production but also consumption. It is based on a way othinking that views all the activities having to do with producing,processing, transporting, storing, marketing and consuming ood

1.1 bAckground


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Introduction 3

as being interconnected and interactive as part o a giant oodsystem. Tis system is global, but made up o tighter operatingsub-systems at the national and even local level. A sustainableood system, then, is a ood system with both a short and longtime perspective. In the short run it acts to provide enough oodor all every day, and in the long run it produces and consumesood in such a way that natural capital and ecosystem services areconserved or many, many uture generations to come.

How to act on these big ideas? Te report shows that thoseready to build a sustainable agriculture have an extensiveselection o options to choose rom, some geared to theindividual arm and some to the landscape. And progress isbeing made in this direction, as indicated by the addition omore than 7 million hectares worldwide over the last decade oconservation agriculture (Friedrich et al 2012).

Tose striving or sustainable marine and inland sheries canalso draw on a large portolio o actions ranging rom controlo land-based marine pollution to establishing environmental

ows or rivers.

And combined progress in sustainable agriculture andsheries can be made by pursuing the new ideas o sustainableconsumption and production in which diets are geared towardsgood health and minimizing ones ecological ootprint. Also,ood losses and wastage are reduced, and actions are taken tomake the ood supply chain more sustainable.

All o these solutions nd a home under the banner o theGreen Economy, a new way o thinking that breaks down thearticial barrier between economy and environment (UNEP2011). Proponents o the Green Economy believe that what we

usually call the environment can also be viewed as naturalcapital and an essential ingredient in providing well being orpeople. According to Green Economy thinking we can have avital economy, and one that provides good livelihoods in allsectors including agriculture, sheries, orestry, and energy without drawing down our natural capital and underminingthe ecological oundations o our activities.

1.2 obJectives of tHe rePort

systems. But it is dicult to describe them in just a ew words,which brings us to the purpose o this document.

Te report has two main objectives and two main parts:

qTe rst objective is to explain the signicance o theecological oundation o ood security, and how thisoundation is being undermined by pressures rom society.

Tat is the subject o Part I o the report.qTe second objective is to explain how to solve this dilemma

by building sustainable ood systems. Tat is the subject oPart II o the report which begins by discussing sustainableood consumption and production, then moves on to theproblem o ood loss/waste and eciency in supply chains,and then to a review o approaches or making agriculture,sheries and aquaculture more sustainable.

It should also be noted that the aim o this document is tocomplement the excellent reports recently published by suchinstitutions and organisations as the International Assessment

o Agricultural Knowledge, Science and echnology or

Development (IAASD), the High-Level Panel o Expertson Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), the UK ForesightProject on Global Food and Farming Futures, the UNSecretary Generals High Level ask Force on the Global FoodSecurity Crisis, and the Committee on World Food Security.

A multitude o stakeholders are also actively trying to bringabout change on the ground, including such internationalorganisations as the Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) the InternationalFund or Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank,and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Tese organisations

are also involved in this report.

Tese institutions and organisations, along with the authorso this report, would likely agree that hunger cannot bealleviated nor amines avoided by just shoring up the ecologicaloundation o the world ood system. Tere is no choice butto address the basic social and economic issues having to do

with the availability, access, utilization and stability o oodconsumption and production. But addressing these issues isalso not enough. Ultimately, we will not have ood to distributeunless we nd a way to produce it sustainably. And producingood sustainably requires a sound ecological oundation. Solet us secure the ecological oundation o the ood system, andmake a vital contribution to ood security.

As we have seen up to this point, the ecological oundationo the world ood system is another important building blocko ood security, as is the idea o constructing sustainable ood

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PartChallenges to the

Ecological Foundationof Food Security 1


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T eologaloundaton o Agultu

chapt 2:

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Agriculture2 plays an important role in human

development. Besides providing ood, bre and otherbiomaterials, the agricultural sector also provides

employment or many people, especially in developingcountries, where it is a major source o income or the poor.

Statistics indicate that approximately 2.6 billion people rely onone orm o agriculture or the other (including sheries) ortheir living (IAASD 2009).

Although the population o the world keeps increasing,agricultural productivity has very much kept pace with thisgrowth (IAASD 2009). However, a large proportion o the

world population 925 million in 2010 remains malnourished(FAO 2010; IFRC 2011). Tis suggests a continuing challengeto design an agricultural system to meet the nutritional needso a wealthier and larger world population.

Current agricultural systems range rom traditional,small-scale, subsistence agriculture involving smallholdersrelying on traditional knowledge and low inputs, to largescale conventional/industrial agriculture dependent uponsubstantial energy, ertilizer and other inputs rom theoutside. Whether small scale or large, agriculture generallydepends on an ecological oundation or producing ood. .

Advances in agriculture research and development haveintroduced a large set o improvements in agriculturalpractices. However, many o these practices have large impactson the environment, sometimes reinorcing and enhancing the

ecological oundations that support productivity, sometimesreplacing them, and sometimes damaging them. Recentreports on the status o agriculture indicate that globallythe resource bases and ecosystem services needed to supportglobal agricultural production are being seriously undermined(IAASD 2009; World Bank 2007; Foresight 2011; TeDevelopment Fund 2010; UNEP 2011). Tis chapter willpresent many examples o how they are being undermined.

2 Although, agriculture generally reers to the cultivation o plants and animalsincluding sh; in this chapter and Chapter 5, agriculture reers to the cultivationo only ood crops and raising o livestock, unless clearly indicated otherwise.Fisheries are discussed separately in Chapters 3 and 6.

Tese include:

qSoil ormation and nutrient recyclingqOn-arm and o-arm biodiversityqClimate conditions and processes

Figure 2.1 provides a schematic o the dierent componentso the ecological oundation o agriculture and how they support

ood production. Each o these components are described below.

2.2.1 The Resource Base of Agriculture

Availability o waterWater obviously plays a crucial role in agricultural

productivity. Many processes aect water availability, both onthe arm and, more broadly, in the landscape or watershed.Natural soil cover, consisting o either living plants or organicmulch, dampens surace water runo by restricting the owo water over soils. Tis improves water inltration andconsequently water availability to plants. Te lack o vegetative

soil cover also decreases evapotranspiration, which in turn, ona large scale, can modiy local microclimate.

raditional arming systems rely on precipitation or onrudimentary irrigation systems. In many cases, natural wateravailability has been substituted or supplemented by irrigationpractices, increasing the amount o water use by agriculture.

Water withdrawn or irrigation makes up about 70% o totalglobal water withdrawals (FAO AQUASA 2011), and itsabsolute volume is increasing steadily (UN Water 2009). Withood demands increasing (see Chapter 4), some agriculturalexperts are projecting the need or increased irrigation area

and water withdrawals over the coming decades (See Section2.4.1). In the ace o increasing competition or water rom all

water sectors, the agricultural sector has to demonstrate thatit can produce ood in a very water ecient way.

Availability o landAgriculture needs land as a base or plant growth. Globally,

agricultural land (arable land plus land under permanentcrops) occupies 11% (1.6 billion hectares) o the globes landsurace (13.4 billion hectares). FAO reports that another2.7 billion hectares could be brought into production (FAO2003). However, there are limits to the expansion (Reich et

al. 2001), as this land may lack inrastructure, be partly underorest cover or include wetlands that have to be protected orenvironmental reasons, or the people who would exploit thisland or agriculture lack access to appropriate technology oreconomic incentives (FAO 2003).

2.2.2 Ecosystem Services to Agriculture

Soil ormation and nutrient cyclingAgricultural productivity depends intimately on soil

characteristics and unctions. Natural soil ertility derivesrom the slow release o elements due to the alteration o deepbedrock material or rom nutrient cycling. It is also dependenton organic matter, which improves soil structure and moistureand ertility retention. Soil biodiversity also enhances soil

2.1 introduction

2.2 tHe ecologicAl

foundAtion ofAgriculturAl Production

As noted in Chapter 1, we dene the ecological oundationas the stocks and ows that support the production o oodin the world. We consider that it is made up o two maincomponents. Te rst is the resource base o agriculture,

which includes water and land, as covered in this report. Tesecond component is the set o essential ecosystem servicesprovided by nature to agriculture.


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Te Ecological Foundation of Agriculture 7

nutrient cycling. In situations where these services ail orare degraded, they become a limiting actor to agriculturalproductivity and are oten compensated or by tillage practices,

or the addition o soil amendments and/or ertilizers.

On-arm biodiversityTe variety and variability o animals, plants and micro-

organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, arenecessary to sustain key unctions o the ecosystem. Forexample, a diversity o soil organisms interacts with the rootso plants and trees and ensures nutrient cycling.

Tere is another important aspect to this on-armbiodiversity. Agricultural experts now generally accept thatagricultural productivity depends on the level o complexity

o an agricultural area, that is, how many dierent kinds oplants and animals are managed on the arm or landscape.It is also accepted that in general the more diversied theagricultural land, the more resilient the land is to climate andother disturbances, and the more it can produce relative toenergy, water and other costs. Diversity on the arm also helpsmaintain the genetic pools o plants and animals. Exampleso diversied agricultural areas are those containing mixedlivestock herds, mixed cropping, or landscapes with integratedcrops, woodland and pastures.

A recent study comparing diversied arming with simplerconventional arming systems, examined 12 ecosystem services,including biodiversity, soil quality, water use eciency,control o weeds, diseases and pests, pollination services,

carbon sequestration, energy eciency/greenhouse warmingpotential, resistance and resilience to climate change, and oodproduction (Kremen 2012). Te study ound that diversied

arming systems are capable o supporting substantially greaterbiodiversity, soil quality, water and energy use eciency,carbon sequestration, and resistance and resilience to climatechange than simplied arming systems (Altieri 1999).

Moreover, even growing several varieties o the same cropwithin the same area reduces risks rom plant diseases andpests, as well as climate and other stresses, and encouragesthe evolution o crops (Altieri and Nicholls 2004). In sum,there is convincing evidence that on-arm biodiversity is anessential component o the ecological oundation o agriculture(CBD 2012).

O-arm biodiversityTe biodiversity o nature surrounding agricultural land is

also crucial or productivity on the arm. For example, pestsand diseases on agricultural land are kept in check partly bypredators and disease control organisms that have their habitatin adjacent woodlands or grasslands (Altieri and Nicholls2004). Bees and other insect pollinators that live close tocroplands contribute to the cross-ertilization o plants onagricultural land and wider ecological unctions such asrecycling o nutrients, regulation o microclimate and localhydrological processes, suppression o undesirable organisms,and detoxication o noxious chemicals (Altieri 1999). reesalso regulate microclimate, oering protection against winds,providing humidity, and regulating water processes.

Human Consumpon

Plant Nutrients

Grass LandCrop Land

Synthec

Ferlizers

Mechanizaon

Irrigaon

Pescides

Land Water Nutrient Cycling

and Soil formaon

Off-Farm

Biodiversity

On-Farm

Biodiversity

Climate

Supporng Ecosystem ServicesResource Base

Livestock

Farming

Cropping

Sequences

ExternalInputs

Fg 2.1. Prncpal resource ows and ecosysem servces supporng ood producon


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Climate conditions and processesTe regional climate and the microclimate in the vicinity o

growing plants are crucial to agricultural productivity. Elementssuch as wind, precipitation, and temperature determine theproductivity o crops at a particular location. Vegetation or thepresence o water bodies can modiy the microclimate.

Climate is probably the least substitutable among the actors

that determine crop yield. Nevertheless, where potential yieldis high and energy is reely available, plants are oten grown ingreenhouses, where temperature, humidity, water supplies andsometimes even air composition are controlled. Tese systems,particularly ones using hydroponics and supplementarylighting, represent the extreme o replacing local ecosystemservices with external inputs to produce ood.

higher than in systems with natural vegetation (Montgomery2007). It is estimated that almost 20% o all cropland has beendegraded over the past two decades3 (Bai et al. 2008).

Tese systems are also less resilient to external shocks dueto long term depletion o soil ertility and strong reliance onmonocropping, (Altieri 2009).

2.3.2 Traditional Smallholder Farming Systems

raditional arming has been used or several generationsto supply the nutritional and material needs o its producers.Tese systems represent the accumulated experience o armersinteracting with their environment using inventive sel-reliance,experiential knowledge, and locally available resources. Teyare highly complex systems, ocused on risk reduction andcharacterized by year round vegetative cover, low levels oinputs and maximization o energy yields. Because o their lowinputs they tend to be more environmentally sensitive thanconventional agriculture. Tese systems cover around 500

million hectares globally (Altieri and Koohakhan 2008).

Tere are more than 1.4 billion traditional smallholderarmers, and they usually belong to one o the lowest incomecategories in the country where they live. Tey are amongstthe most vulnerable social groups, but at the same timethey produce the bulk o the ood in developing countries(Koohakhan 2011).

Since traditional systems rely on the carrying capacity oecosystems, they are highly vulnerable to increased pressuressuch as population growth, economic cycles and climate

change. Although traditional agriculture tends to be moreenvironmentally sensitive than conventional agriculture,i practiced inappropriately it can lead to land degradation.

When ecological thresholds are crossed such as occurs withovergrazing, leaving inadequate allow periods, or cultivatingon steep slopes, these systems become unsustainable, eventuallyleading to land degradation and/or suboptimal yields.

raditional agriculture has limited scope or armmechanization and external agrichemical inputs because manysmallholders plots are too small to realize the economieso scale required or most commercial arm machinery. In

addition, the high cost o purchased inputs such as chemicalertilizers generally requires that at least some portion o thecrops produced must be sold to recover costs (UNEP 2011).

2.3.3 Sustainable Agriculture/Agroecology

Under this category alls a wide range o practices andapproaches aiming at intensiying production throughenhancing natural supporting processes. Tere are many termsto describe these systems: synergic agriculture, permaculture,eco-agriculture, conservation agriculture, organic arming.

According to this model, agriculture can be intensive, but alsomultiunctional (IAASD 2009) in the diversied sensedescribed in Section 2.2.2. It should produce dierent things

3 Tat is, has experienced decreasing productivity between 1981 and 2003.

2.3 current stAtus ofAgriculturAl systems

2.3.1 Conventional Agriculture

Monocultures and intensive industrial arming systems arethe result o classic agronomic thinking. Tese systems, gearedor the delivery o high economic returns, are in a way, simple tomanage. Tey dominate in the developed countries as a result othe unique ocus on the provision o commercial commodities.

Natural processes in the elds are generally substituted bypractices and technologies reliant on external inputs, mainlyenergy, agrochemicals and ertilizers.

Mechanized tillage substitutes or soil processes, and ertilizersreplenish the main nutrients lost during the production process.

Water provided by irrigation systems compensates or erraticor insucient rain. Standardized seeds reduce biodiversity toa minimum, simpliying agronomic practices and reducingunwanted natural variability. Chemicals are used to controlpests and, in some extreme cases, articial pollination methodsare used as a substitute or natural pollinators. Tese advancedood production systems have become heavily dependent onarmers continuous investment in energy intensive machineryand ertilizer inputs (ilman et al. 2002; Woods et al. 2007).

Various authors including Giampietro and Pimentel (1994);Ikerd (1994); Schiere and Grasman (1997); Bringezu andBleischwitz (2009); and Altieri et al (2012) have reported thatthe sustainability o recently developed agricultural and oodsystems is seriously compromised because o increasing relianceon non-renewable resources. As a rough estimate, 100 calorieso externally provided energy (mainly ossil uels) are neededto produce 10 calories o ood. Some o these authors have alsonoted that a transormation to a more sustainable agriculture

would be desirable, along the lines o what is described in thenext section and Chapter 5.

In conventional agricultural systems, soil erosion is over threetimes higher than in conservation agriculture, and over 75 times


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on the same arm or over a wider landscape. Also, accordingto this model, arming should rely more on internal water andnutrient availability, and less on external inputs o these andother resources. Under this approach, it is not unreasonableto expect arm level productivity to increase relative toconventional agriculture, especially in developing countries

where the potential or increasing yields is large. A recent studyo nearly 300 agriculture projects covering 37 million hectares

in poor countries documented an average yield increase o79%, substantial carbon sequestration, more-ecient wateruse, reduced pesticide use, and increased ecosystem services

as a result o resource-conserving practices(Pretty et al. 2005).Another study ound that agroecology practices (see Chapter5) enhanced both species richness and abundance in a varietyo agricultural landscapes (Batry et al. 2011). Yet another

study ound that high biodiversity is compatible with highyields (Clough et al. 2011).

Tere is evidence that a diversied agriculture will also bemore resilient to climate change (PAR 2010) and have a highmitigation potential (Altieri 2012). First, it reduces ossil uelinputs and greenhouse gas emissions relative to conventionalagriculture. Second, there is increased reliance on trees and otherdeep-rooted perennials, greater crop diversity, lower tillage, andhigher levels o organic matter in soils. Tese conditions makediversied agriculture more weather resilient. Tird, higherbiodiversity can protect against the spread o pests and weeds that

will likely accompany higher temperatures. Finally, systems basedon ecological processes could potentially sequester 1.23.1 billiontonnes per year o atmospheric carbon in soils and in biomass,

which in turn could increase grain and root crop yields by 30 - 42million tonnes per year in developing countries alone (Lal 2008).

During the last decade, cropland under conservation arming(CA) (see Chapter 5) has increased by more than 7 millionhectares annually throughout the world (Friedrich et al. 2012),and has been adopted by both large commercial and small-scalearmers, with yields 20 to 120% higher than with conventionalcultivation (AC 2009; FAO 2010; Derpsch et al. 2010). CA isnow used on 125 million hectares across all continents, in manydierent agricultural ecologies and at various scales, with 50%o the area located in developing regions (Kassam et al. 2009).

We have seen in Section 2.2 that the ecological oundationo agricultural ood production generally depends on itsresource base and several ecosystem services. o recapitulate,

two important components o its resource base are water andland and key ecosystem services include: nutrient cycling andsoil ormation, on-arm biodiversity, o-arm biodiversity, and

climate conditions. We have also seen that these are all underpressure to a varying degree throughout the world. In thissection we look more closely at some o the driving orces o thispressure (able 2.1). We begin by looking at pressures on two

key components o agricultures resource base: water and land.

2.4.1 Undermining the Resource Base of

Agriculture

Pressure on water needed or agricultureFor millennia, society has supplemented the supply o

rainall or crops with irrigated water. Irrigation has alwaysand continues to make a substantial contribution to worldood production, as conrmed by the oten repeated statisticthat irrigated land makes up just 18% o the worlds croplandbut produces about 40% o the worlds ood (FAO 2007). o

meet uture ood demands or more people consuming morecalories and more meat per person, FAO has estimated thatdeveloping countries may need to expand their irrigated arearom 202 million hectares (1997/99) to 242 million hectares(2030), with water withdrawals or irrigation potentiallyincreasing by 50% in 2025 relative to 1995 (Rosegrant et al.2002). Te Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005)gives an increase in total global irrigated area between 0 and21 million hectares between 1997 and 2050, depending onscenario assumptions, with decreasing trends in developedcountries somewhat balanced out by increasing trends indeveloping countries.

But these projections may be dicult to realize becausenew irrigation area will have to compete more strongly with

2.4 undermining tHeecologicAl foundAtion ofAgriculture

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to 4.9-5.5 billion between 1995 and 20504, while the WorldWater Assessment Programme indicates that 90% o the 3

billion people to be added to the population by 2050 maylive in regions already experiencing signicant water stress(WWAP 2012). Where these billions live, the irrigation sectorshould expect increasingly vigorous competition or waterresources rom other water use sectors.

Climate change will urther sharpen the competition orwater in many river basins. When both climate change andincreasing water use are included in water stress projections, onestudy ound that water stress decreased by 19.729.0% o totalriver basin area in the world but increased by 62.075.8% othis area between the 1990s and 2050s (Alcamo et al. 2007).

4 Te Millennium Ecosystem Assessment gures increase because o acombination o population increase, per capita increase in domestic andindustrial water use, and decreases in water availability in some regions due toclimate change.

households and industries or additional water supplies(Cassman et al. 2005). For example, according to the

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios (MA 2005),domestic water use is projected to double between 1997 and2050 in Sub Saharan Arica, and grow by 20 to 90% in Asia,depending on scenario assumptions. Large increases are alsoprojected or industrial water use. Irrigation projects also haveto contend with new limits on how much they can withdrawrom rivers based on new targets or maintaining a minimumamount o ow in rivers to sustain ecosystems (WWAP 2009).

Another indication o the increasing competition or wateris the projection o the increasing number o people livingin river basins under severe water stress. Te MillenniumEcosystem Assessment projects a possible increase rom 2.3

Drivers Impacts on Agroecosystem Impact on ood production

Implications or oodsecurity

Pressure

onthe

resource

base

Reduced water availability andcompetition or available water.

Reduced provisioning o waterto agriculture (i increased waterwithdrawals are not an option).

Limitation to expansion oirrigated agriculture.

Expansion in supply romkey cropping regionsreduced, especially in aridareas.

Competition or land rom otherland uses.

Restricted or reduced amounto land available or agriculture(i expansion into naturalecosystems is not an option).

Possible slower growth inood production due todiminished crop land surace.

Rapid reallocation o oodresources and impact ontrade. Higher ood prices inshort term.

Pressureonkeyecosystemservicestoagriculture

On-arm practices:

Monocropping,excessivetillage, high quantitieso inputs (pesticides andertilizers).

Inappropriateagriculturalpractices (cultivation onsteep slopes, overgrazing, andimproper drainage).

Soil degradation:

watererosion,winderosion,chemical deterioration(e.g. loss o nutrients ororganic matter; salinisation;acidication; pollution);physical deterioration(compaction, sealing andcrusting; water-logging;lowering o water table;

subsidence o organicsoils); disruption o soilmicrobiology.

Reductionofon-farmbiodiversity.

Reducedwateravailability.

Sub-optimumordecrease in crop yield andgrassland productivity.

Someareasseriouslyconstrained due toerosion or salinisation.

Higher costs to perormagriculture and in thelong term, environmentalproblems lead to restrictionson agriculture. Depletiono phosphorus inputs maybe a long term threat toproduction. Price rises willincrease diculties or mostvulnerable groups.

Landscape practices(Deorestation, pollution andremoval o natural and semi-natural habitats).

Reductions o habitats oorganisms that perorm naturalcontrol o crop pests.

Reduction in pollinators.

Local micro-climate changeddue to lack o trees.

Increased costs or increaseduse o agrochemicals.Reduction in yields especiallyor vegetable cash crops.

Maintaining crop yieldsinvolves greater costs.

Changing climate conditionsincluding:

Changeinprecipitationpatterns.

Warmertemperatures. Changeinfrequencyof

occurrence o extremeclimate events.

Shits in crop growing zones.Initial increase in cropproductivity in cooler climates.

Initial decrease in cropproductivity in warmer climates.

Eventual decrease in cropproductivity throughout mostagricultural areas.

Changes in potential cropand grassland production.

Changes in crop suitabilityor particular regions.

Adaptation needed orpossible reduction in oodsupply.

ta 2.1 d ha a a a


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Hence, while some experts believe that uture ood demandsmust be met by additional irrigated land, the water supply orthis and current irrigated cropland is coming under increasingpressure rom competing water users. Competition will comerom the needs o other sectors, such as industry and urbandevelopment and the need to maintain viable downstreamecosystems. It is dicult to say exactly where and to what degreecompetition or water will limit the expansion o irrigation,5

although it seems almost certain that this competition willintensiy, and on a large scale.

Furthermore, the nexus between water, ood and energyshould be recognized: irrigation requires energy just as otheragricultural practices. At the same time, water is a critical inputto energy production, although impacts on water availabilityand quality vary with energy sources and production methods(UNEP/Oeko Institut/IEA Bioenergy 2011).

Pressure on land available or agricultureAnother kind o threat to agriculture comes rom land uses

that compete with agricultural land. Here we ocus on twotypes o land use most oten cited in this regard cropland orbioenergy and urban areas.

As is well known, there has been a steady increase in theproduction o bioenergy crops grown as eedstocks or gaseous,liquid and solid uels, motivated largely by aspirations o energysecurity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.6 Between 2000and 2007, or example, world production o bioethanol ortransport uels grew rom 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres,and biodiesel production rom less than 1 billion to almost 11billion litres (UNEP 2009). By early 2012, at least 46 countries at

the national level and 26 states and provinces had enacted biouelblending mandates (REN21 2012).

Te main issue here is whether land devoted to bioenergyproduction competes, or will compete, with ood production.Tere already seems to be competition between using maizeor either ood, eed, or biouels (Banse et al. 2008; OFID2009). Some observers believe that the sharp ood price surgesthat occurred in 2007/2008, which made ood purchasingmore dicult or the poor, were evidence o bioenergy cropscompeting with ood crops (Alexandratos 2008; Babcock2011). One estimate coming rom the International Energy

Agency and FAO is that the total area devoted to bioenergycrops could grow rom about 13.8 million hectares in 2004 tobetween 34.5 and 58.5 million hectares in 2030, depending onscenario assumptions (FAO 2008). Tis amounts to an increaseo roughly 0.8 to 1.7 million hectares per year up to 20307. Tesegures may not seem important compared to the 1,560 millionhectares o arable land in the world but there is evidence that

5 For an appreciation o the many actors that will aect the easibility o irrigatedarea expansion, see, e.g. World Bank (2003).

6 However, the eectiveness o bioenergy in reducing emissions as compared toossil uels is not always clear, and depends strongly on the type o bioenergycrop, the circumstances under which they are grown, the process by which theyare converted to usable uels, and the way in which these uels are then used.

UNEP (2009), or example noted that ethanol derived rom sugar cane achievedgreater net reductions o greenhouse gas emissions than palm biodiesel derivedrom palm oil.

7 Tis range o gures reects assumptions about uture energy demand, thepercentage o energy supplies to be delivered by biouels, the type o bioenergycrops cultivated and processed, and other actors.

bioenergy crops compete with staple crops or prime armland(Howarth and Bringezu 2009). Considering population,consumption and other global trends, it is possible that thecompetition between bioenergy and ood crops could intensiy.Tis provides a great incentive to develop more ecient ways oproducing and using bioenergy, e.g., using wastes and residuesas eedstock or combining ood and energy systems (UNEP2009; UN Energy 2010).

Not only expanding bioenergy cropland, but also expandingcities put pressure on ood production. But there are twoviewpoints about the extent o this threat. One argues that thethreat rom cities is marginal since urban land only makes upabout 0.3 to 1% o the earths land surace (Arino et al. 2007;ESA 2008; World Bank 2005). Hence, it is argued an extensiono this relatively small surace cannot pose a threat to arable land

which occupies 11% o the worlds land surace. In addition, adeclining proportion o land used or agriculture around a citymay be accompanied by more intensive production or landthat remains in agriculture (Satterthwaite 2010).

An opposing viewpoint is that a disproportionate amounto global ood production (15-20%) occurs in areas adjacentto cities (UNEP 2009a), suggesting that cities may have anover-proportional impact on displacing agriculture.8 Furthersupport or this belie comes rom an FAO paper whichestimates a global annual rate o urban expansion or the year2000 o around 20,000 km2. Eighty percent o this expansionis assumed to occur onto agricultural land, giving an annualloss o agricultural land to cities o around 1.6 million hectares(FAO 2006). Tese estimates are consistent with the scenarioso Lambin and Meyroidt (2011) who project an annual loss

o agricultural land to cities o about 1.63.3 million hectaresbetween 2000 and 2030.

Cities are now expected to grow 2.5 times in area by 2030,consuming some 100 million hectares, or 1.1% o the totalland area o countries (World Bank 2005).

2.4.2 Impacts of Agricultural Practices on

Ecosystem Services to Agriculture

Now that we have examined pressures on the water and landwhich agriculture depends on, we shit our attention to the

ecosystem services that are part o the ecological oundationo agriculture.

In Section 2.3, we described how modern arming systemsachieve high yields through mechanization and high inputso energy, ertilizer, pesticides, and in some cases irrigation

water. In so doing this style o agriculture also obviouslydeparts rom natural conditions at crop sites, and therebyinevitably alters the natural level o nutrient cycling, soilormation and other processes. Furthermore, in some parts othe world traditional agriculture has taken on unsustainablepractices such as overgrazing pastures or planting on erodibleslopes because o population pressures or a break-down in

8 However UNEP (2009a) points out that there is great uncertainty associatedwith this 15-20% gure.


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cultural traditions. In sum, these practices have underminedthe ecological oundation o agriculture.

Fertilizer loading alters the cycling o nutrientsA characteristic o modern agriculture is the intensive use

o ertilizers that supplement the nutrients available to plantsrom internal cycling within soils. Overall, the global annualconsumption o ertilizers providing the three major nutrients,

(nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) approached 165million metric tonnes, 105 or nitrogen and 38 or phosphorus(FAO in VFRC 2012).

Without the addition o ertilizer, a relatively small amounto nitrogen available or plant nutrition is synthesized by amicrobiological process at the level o the roots. Very little leavesthe plant zone and instead it is recycled within plants andbetween soil and plants. But under annual cropping systems, with

external nitrogen inputs, substantial losses occur (up to two thirdsin wetland rice) and impose an unsustainable burden on otheraspects o the environment. Tese losses occur because plantson the average only take up a small raction o applied nitrogenertilizer which means that nitrogen leaches out o the crop soilzone and escapes into the atmosphere and water environment.

Te impacts o nitrogen escaping rom the plant zoneinclude the ollowing:

qNitrogen loadings rom agriculture oten causes contami-nation o groundwater and bioaccumulate in the ood

chain (UNEP 2007).qA large raction o applied nitrogen ends up being released

to the atmosphere in the orm o nitrous oxide, a powerulgreenhouse gas which makes a substantial contributionto global warming (8% o total global greenhouse gasemissions). Agriculture accounts or about 60% o nitrousoxide emissions rom global anthropogenic emissions in2005 (Barker et al. 2007).

qA large amount o the escaped nitrogen nds its way tosurace waters where it contributes to eutrophication(overertilization) o rivers and lakes. Tis process ischaracterized by extreme growths o algae sometimescausing the depletion o dissolved oxygen resources onatural waters. Some o this escaped nitrogen also nds its

way to the coastal zone where it is thought to be one o the

causes o eutrophication and depletion o dissolved oxygenover large coastal areas around the world. Tese deadzones pose a threat to the marine shery (See Section3.2.5 and 3.3.5 o Chapter 3).

Reliance on large phosphorus inputs poses its own risks. Aswith nitrogen, only a raction o the applied phosphorus istaken up by plants and the rest nds its way into natural waters

where it also contributes to eutrophication and associatedalgae blooms and the appearance o coastal dead zones (MA2005). Moreover, there is some uncertainty about the lietimeo phosphorus mineral reserves upon which ertilizer supplies

depend. UNEP (2011) has pointed out that the known supplyo cheap, high-grade reserves is becoming increasingly limited

while phosphorus ertilizer demand continues to increase.UNEP has urther pointed out the lack o agreement on howlong economic reserves o mineral phosphorus will last,

with some experts projecting a lietime o 300-400 years andothers a ew decades leading to a peak production o mineralphosphorus between 2030 and 2040.

But the ertilizer industry is well aware o these problems.New technologies are being developed to optimize plantuptake over time and to improve the eciency in theprocessing phase9, but it is not clear that these technologies

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