Over a third, or 37%, of the world’s lands are devoted to agriculture.
As a result, a new flagship report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), argues that better designed and targeted policies, could benefit both biodiversity and agriculture and should be considered and implemented by countries across the world.
Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General, said healthy nature means better agriculture, and sustainable agricultural practices means a more resilient planet. One cannot thrive without the other.
“We know that we cannot achieve conservation goals without considering agriculture, and this report shows us that we can find ways to conserve nature while ensuring that people are fed, and local economies are strong. The way that most agriculture is practiced has a major impact on the extinction crisis that our planet is facing” said Aguilar.
According to the report, titled Agriculture and Conservation, 34% of species comprehensively assessed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species have agriculture documented as a direct threat.
That’s due to the conversion of natural habitats to croplands, pasturelands, and plantations.
In addition, species are threatened by indirect agricultural impacts such as the overconsumption of freshwater and introduction of invasive alien species; pollution from soil erosion, nutrients, agrochemicals and climate change.
On the other hand, 17% of species have agroecosystems documented as a habitat.
But the flagship report also found that realigning agriculture and conservation, does not have to come at the expense of food production or economic returns.
Though trade-offs, better land use and management can ensure improvements in biodiversity, climate and economic objectives.
Realising these changes, however, requires rearranging landowner and other stakeholder incentives by using programmes like payments for ecosystem services, changes in laws and regulations, or other institutional mechanisms.
Though there are challenges to accomplishing such changes, results show they can produce large-scale benefits. For example, research has shown that implementing policies aimed at protecting biodiversity and promoting the services that healthy ecosystems provide could increase global GDP by USD 150 billion annually, while continuing with business-as-usual approaches could cost the economy upwards of USD 100 billion per year.
Stewart Maginnis, IUCN Deputy Director General, said the debate over how to balance agriculture and conservation is complicated, nuanced, and often country specific.
“In some cases, protecting land from agriculture is the best policy, while in others it is to make agricultural lands more friendly to wildlife. But what we do know is that governments often support agricultural production systems that can be harmful to species and habitats. This support should be repurposed towards incentivising conservation and sustainable management of nature, which can benefit biodiversity, food production, climate, and economic objectives” he said.
The IUCN flagship report on agriculture was edited by IUCN Chief Economist Juha Siikamäki and Chief Scientist Thomas Brooks, with contributions from 32 other experts.
