Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to exploitation (FAO, 2005). Interventions are required across the scale, from small
ields to communities, watersheds, cathments and ultimately whole river basins,
with a focus on increasing the productivity of both 'green' and 'blue' water use
(Humphreys
et al.
, 2008). In some countries, 85 per cent of diverted water resources
are now directed into agriculture with increasing competition for urban and indus-
trial usage. For this reason, the need for improved crop, soil and water management
practices, particularly in light of climate hange, is growing.
Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Agriculture has been a leading cause of loss of global biodiversity due to conversion
of natural habitats, suh as forests and wetlands, into farmland (Green
et al.
, 2005).
Furthermore, the increased efficiency of agriculture has resulted in dramatic declines
of many species using farmland habitats. Key drivers include the increased use of
synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, increased landscape homogeneity due
to regional and farm-level specialization, drainage of waterlogged fields, loss of mar-
ginal and uncropped habitat pathes, and reduction of fallow periods within arable
rotations (Robinson and Sutherland, 2002; Wilson
et al.
, 2009). Moreover, the intensi-
fication of agriculture has been central to the degradation of ecosystem services, and
has both increased the production of greenhouse gases and reduced levels of car-
bon sequestration (UNEP, 2010). he major hallenge is to understand the best com-
promises between increasing food production while minimising the negative im-
pacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and society. Furthermore, new tehnologies
will provide both a means of increasing the intensity of agriculture and the areas
suitable for agriculture, for example through drought-resistant crops. Determining
the best compromise requires an improved understanding of how to use new tehno-
logies, and the balance between intensification and extensification to ensure sustain-
able food production, ecosystem services, biodiversity and socio-economic impacts.
Energy and resilience
As demand for energy grows in the coming decades, alternative energy sources will
need to be identified to sustain the growing global population. Agriculture uses a
considerable amount of energy, both directly in mahinery and embedded with-
in products used in agriculture (Shneider and Smith, 2009). he efects of high oil
prices on low income rural households, and globally on agricultural inputs (pesti-
