AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 60

In the MA, the interdependency of the production capacity of (agro)ecosystems and
the provision of the necessary goods and services for human societies are highlighted.
Again it is agriculture, claiming, amongst others, land and water resources, that is at
the heart of providing ecosystem goods and services.
As argued by Roetter et al. (2007a, b), increasing production is essential to
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1). As total production is a function of
agricultural productivity and the area cultivated, two agronomic strategies are distin-
guished to achieve the desired increase in production: (i) increase in productivity
and (ii) expansion of area. An increase in food production is not only achieved via a
technical fix, in which environmental constraints are lifted; alleviation of institutional,
technological and political constraints is also essential. Access to land, fertilizers,
knowledge, finance and water are examples of such non-environmental factors.
Area expansion still remains a strategy, but as competition for land increases, is
becoming of less importance compared to yield increase. Yields of major food crops
such as rice, maize and wheat have tripled during the second half of the 20th century
(Hafner 2003; see also Roetter and Van Keulen 2007). A consequence of this
science- and technology-based agriculture that resulted in increased yields, was a
decline in the rate of conversion of natural and fragile areas into agricultural land.
High-yielding varieties require more care and external inputs, mainly nutrients
and water, and consequently a good understanding of the agro-ecosystem. The
negative environmental impacts of intensive high-input agriculture are indisputable:
soil degradation, and excessive use of agro-chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides
and herbicides, resulting in groundwater pollution (Van Keulen 2007). Loss of soil
fertility, resulting from shorter fallows and poor land management, was among the
first signs that the intensive agricultural systems caused problems and were under-
mining the quality of the natural resource base (Tilman et al. 2001).
In this chapter, we will address some of the most pressing environmental issues
related to agricultural land use and discuss their link with the MDGs. The issues are:
(i) soil and land degradation; (ii) chemical pollution of soil and water; (iii) impact on
biodiversity and (iv) climate change. Some of these problems have long been reco-
gnized and local, national and international actions are ongoing to reduce or halt the
negative impacts of agriculture. In addition to local and regional initiatives, several
key international environmental treaties are in place: the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity (UNCBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD) (see Box 1).
THE NORTH-SOUTH INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION PROGRAMME
The North-South programme did not have separate environmental foci, but, for good
reasons, concentrated on their integration in studies on poverty reduction, economic
development and exchange of knowledge (Research Programme North-South 2001).
During 1998-2000, environmental issues were strongly embedded in the various
projects. In 2001, the programme expanded its mandate and reformulated its aim: