Chemical Pesticides and Human Health: The Urgent Need for a New Concept in Agriculture

RESEARCH FRAMEWORK:SUSTAINABILITY AS A PLANNING PROBLEMThe quality of soil, water and air, and the number and diversity of plant and animal species in the Netherlands, show a sharp decline. This decline in the quality of the natural substratum poses a major problem for environmental policy and planning. Government policy and planning aim at sustainable land use. However, the concept of sustainability is subject to various interpretations. This study concentrates on the ecological aspects of sustainability. The problem of the current decline in the quality of the natural substratum can be solved only on the basis of knowledge of ecological limits to human management. To this end it is assumed that planning needs an ecological approach, an angle from which ecological aspects of human management can be analysed, and adequate solutions to the problem of the declining quality of the natural substratum can be found. In order to devise sustainable trajectories for the environment, indicators of ecological sustainability are needed together with their limiting values. In addition, an ecological approach should provide planning with insight into the underlying factors. These factors are called the building blocks of sustainability. Finally, knowledge of the implications of respecting ecological limits is prerequisite to planning.In this study, an ecological approach is constructed on the basis of theoretical notions as to the persistence of natural ecosystems.The study focuses on the ecological limits to agricultural management in the pleistocene areas in the Netherlands, as it is here that the decline in the quality of the natural substratum is most dramatic. A distinction is made between agro-ecosystems and nature-ecosystems. Agro-ecosystems are defined as ecosystems whose functioning is regulated with a view to agricultural production. Natureecosystems are defined as ecosystems which are controlled with a view to nature conservation and/or nature expansion.LIMITS TO SUSTAINABILITYThe theoretical concept of persistence of ecosystems with a plural hierarchical organisation is chosen as the basis of the search for ecological limits. The hierarchical organisation of ecosystems results from differences in the speed and spatial scale of processes, relevant to the system as a whole. Within this hierarchical organisation, three dimensions are distinguished. The biotic dimension refers to the hierarchically structured network of species. The functional dimension refers to the hierarchy of processes and functions within the ecosystem. The spatial dimension refers to the hierarchical spatial arrangement of ecosystems and their interrelationships. Each ecosystem is characterized by a specific coherence between the biotic, functional and spatial dimensions. The hierarchical organisation of ecosystems and the coherence between the three dimensions play an important role in the self-regulation of natural ecosystems, notably when they are faced with disturbances. These disturbances are defined as significant changes in the characteristics of an ecosystem, which result, for instance, from changes in environmental factors. In contrast to the concept of stability, the concept of persistence implies the self-regulation of ecosystems that can exist in more than one - equilibrium state or attraction domain and even in a non-equilibrium state. Persistence of hierarchically organised ecosystems is defined as the ability to maintain the characteristic coherence of species, functional aspects and spatial components. When confronted with disturbances, these ecosystems are able to persist by shifting from one attraction domain to another. The possibility of alternative equilibrium states is, however, limited to a specific range of disturbances.Ecological theory focuses mostly on population density or population size, elements of the biotic dimension, as indicators of persistence. Limits to the persistence of natural ecosystems are then defined as limits to fluctuations in these indicators, acceptable with a view to the long-term survival of the population in question. Owing to the coherence between the dimensions of hierarchically organised ecosystems, changes in population density or size are the result of underlying functional, biotic or spatial processes. These processes are therefore regarded as the building blocks of persistence. The extent to which the persistence of ecosystems is threatened is related to the extent to which the limits to changes in these building blocks are exceeded.PERSISTENCE OF AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS AND NATURE-ECOSYSTEMSThe processes in both agro-ecosystems and nature-ecosystems are the same as in natural ecosystems. However, they are regulated by a specific form of human management. Agro and nature-ecosystems differ in the extent to which their selfregulation is replaced by human regulation. It is assumed that these types of ecosystems are also characterized by a three-dimensional hierarchical organisation.In agro-ecosystems, the coherence between the dimensions is regulated with a view to animal and plant production. The yield per ha and/or per animal is regarded as the indicator of the persistence of agro-ecosystems. Important building blocks of the persistence of agro-ecosystems are the quality of the soil in the functional dimension, the health of livestock and crops in the biotic dimension, and the possibility of multiple land use in the spatial dimension.In nature-ecosystems, the coherence between the dimensions is regulated with a view to a specific species composition. The focus is mainly on the conservation of rare species and communities, characteristic for Dutch environmental conditions. This species composition is regarded as the indicator of the persistence of nature-ecosystems. Important building blocks are the quality of soil and groundwater and the level of the groundwater table in the functional dimension, the minimum viable population size of characteristic species, defined as the population size that will ensure (at some statistical level) its persistence for a specified time, in the biotic dimension, and the surface and spatial heterogeneity together with the possibility of connection with similar nature-ecosystems in the spatial dimension.In order to implement an ecological approach for planning, a quantitative indicator of the acceptable limits to the fluctuations in both agricultural yield and species composition is needed. When such an indicator is lacking, this study focuses on limits to changes in the mentioned building blocks, as for example limits to the accumulation of heavy metals in agro-ecosystems and limits to the isolation of nature- ecosystems.AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS AND NATURE-ECOSYSTEMSIN PLEISTOCENE AREASIn order to define the current problems relating to persistence, the relationship between agriculture and nature in pleistocene areas is re-examined through the use of the theoretical framework. The extent to which disturbances in agro and nature- ecosystems threaten their respective persistence depends both on the intensity of agricultural land use, and the susceptibility to related disturbances of the natural substratum, the totality of soil, water, air, plants and animals. Initially, the pleistocene areas were characterized by many gradual transitions from oligotrophic to mesotrophic and eutrophic conditions. The development of agriculture in the pleistocene areas was structurally influenced by the pattern of plains, sand ridges and stream valleys.In the 1960s dairy farming in pleistocene areas expanded enormously. The 1970s showed a large increase in intensive husbandry, especially in the eastern and southern pleistocene areas. Later, a decrease in acreage was compensated by developments in the respective dimensions of agro-ecosystems, resulting in an annually increasing production per hectare and per animal. Factual information concerning possible threats to the persistence of agro-ecosystems is scarce, except for arable farmland in the northern pleistocene area, where agricultural yields show a decline as a result of the intensive tillage practices.Using 'yield' as an indicator of persistence proves to be difficult because of the continuous adjustment and extension of the management of agro-ecosystems. Thus, it is not yet possible to quantify the variation in yields which would be acceptable in terms of persistence. Changes in several building blocks, however, signal possible future threats to the persistence of agro-ecosystems. These changes include the accumulation of potassium and heavy metals in the soil, the speed with which weeds, soil organisms and insects become resistant to pesticides, and the possibility of limited use of land which was heavily manured in the past.Moreover, changes in agricultural land use have affected and still affect other aspects of the quality of the natural substratum through the release of nitrogenous and acidifying compounds, the lowering of the groundwater table and the decrease in spatial heterogeneity.Around 1900, the Dutch nature movement was born out of an increasing concern about the general changes in agricultural land use. In the period 1900-1960 the acreage of nature-ecosystems in the Netherlands sharply decreased. Since 1960, the quality of the remaining nature-ecosystems has been declining. The situation with respect to the number and diversity of species in these nature-ecosystems has deteriorated. Consequently, it is assumed that the persistence of nature-ecosystems in pleistocene areas has been strongly affected. To a large extent, this deterioration is caused by the above mentioned effects of agricultural land use. These disturbing effects have led to a decreasing viability of plants and animals characteristic of nature- ecosystems. As a result of the cumulative effect of disturbances, it can be assumed that nature-ecosystems in. pleistocene areas have only one attraction domain left. This limits their capacity to absorb further disturbances. In order to sustain this assumption, it is necessary to quantify the acceptable variation in species composition for specific types of nature-ecosystems,such as e.g. heaths and moorland pools. So, nature conservation schemes should state explicitly which type of ecosystem is intended. Only then, limits to changes in both the species composition and the relevant building blocks can be determined.From a planning perspective, maintaining the persistence of nature-ecosystems of in the pleistocene areas is a more pressing problem than maintaining the persistence of agro-ecosystems.POLICY PLANS FOR THE QUALITY OF THE NATURAL SUBSTRATUMThe decline in the quality of the natural substratum in the Netherlands prompted the government to revise its policy. In the last few years a number of government reports on this problem have been published: the National Report on Environmental Policy, the Report on Nature Policy, the Third Report on Watermanagement, the Fourth Report on Spatial Organisation (Extra) and the Report on Agricultural Structures. All these reports focus on sustainable development, particularly on the sustainable preservation and development of nature-ecosystems. Besides the traditional preservation of the so-called 'half-natural' ecosystems like heaths and moorlands, there is a strong interest in developing original, self-regulating ecosystems. Restoring the quality of the natural substratum is a prerequisite in both approaches. 'Me different policy plans seek to counteract the current decline in quality by realising both an Ecological Main Structure and a general level of quality of the environment.The above mentioned policy plans are generally lacking in an ecological approach as defined in this study. An explicit definition of sustainability, together with relevant indicators and limiting values, is commonly not given. The objectives as to the quality of the natural substratum have not been made explicit and applicable on the regional level. The reports pay too little attention to the coherence between functional, biotic and spatial conditions for the persistence of ecosystems. Furthermore, the measures proposed to attain the general level of environmental quality are insufficient.BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR THE QUALITY OF THE NATURAL SUBSTRATUM IN THE CATCHMENT AREAS OF BEERZE AND REUSELThe case-study evaluates regional plans concerning nature-ecosystems in the catchment areas of two lowland streams in the southern pleistocene area. The pivotal question is whether or not these schemes are adequate in terms of persistence. The case-study comprised three parts: the conservation of forests and heaths as core areas in the Ecological Main Structure, the realisation of corridor zones for forest birds, and the creation of nature expansion areas in stream valleys.The evaluation encountered a number of difficulties. Firstly, the schemes were not very specific about the desired species composition. Secondly, data on the current species composition in potential core areas and nature expansion areas were incomplete. Thirdly, quantitative knowledge as to the limits to fluctuations in the species composition of the nature- ecosystems concerned, is rather limited. Consequently, it proved to be impossible to demarcate entirely the different attraction domains in which these ecosystems can persist.Since an evaluation using the indicator 'species composition' could not be carried out satisfactorily, the study was orientated towards limits to fluctuations in the building blocks of persistence. Again, the knowledge of these limits is patchy. In the functional dimension, the values of the critical loads of acid deposition in nature-ecosystems are in part arbitrary. Knowledge concerning limits to desiccation and eutrophication is limited to estimated original values. In the biotic dimension, no general rule for the minimum viable population size can be given. In the spatial dimension, knowledge concerning the size, location and quality of corridor zones between core areas, required for the dispersal of species, was mostly qualitative.As far as possible, the level of quality of the natural substratum that can be realised on the basis of the proposed policy measures was compared with the level of quality necessary to ensure the persistence of nature-ecosystems. The latter corresponds to the limits on fluctuations in the different building blocks, and is seen as the complex of boundary conditions for persistence. Not only do the results of this comparison show a large gap between measures and conditions, they also suggest that some ecological conditions have not been taken into account at all.Respecting the boundary conditions for the quality of the natural substratum in nature- ecosystems will have far-reaching consequences for the management of the agro-ecosystems in the catchment areas of Beerze and Reusel. These consequences include, in the functional dimension, a reduction of the release of nitrogenous compounds and phosphate, and a reduction of the use of groundwater; in the spatial dimension, a reduction in acreage and in some zones a restriction on land use, due to the requirements of nature-ecosystems; in the biotic dimension, a reduction in the number of animals may be necessary. However, standards for the translation of the conditions for persistence of natureecosystems into acceptable agricultural management have yet to be developed.AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO PLANNINGThe case-study in the Beerze-Reusel area leads to the conclusion that, without an ecological approach, the balance between political objectives, ecological conditions and adequate policies is seriously impeded. The regional plans do not lead to sustainable conservation of existing nature-ecosystems, and the realization of both adequate corridor zones and nature expansion areas in stream valleys seems doubtful. On the other hand, meeting the conditions for the quality of the natural substratum of nature-ecosystems would seriously affect the outlook for agriculture in the Beerze-Reusel area.In theory, combining of the concept of persistence with the hierarchical concept of ecosystems could provide planning with a promising basis for an ecological approach. From this study it is apparent that the coherence between the different ecological aspects of sustainable development necessitates coherence and integration of the different domains of physical planning. The implementation of the theoretical approach elaborated in this study will depend on whether or not the lacunae in ecological knowledge which were encountered can be remedied. In particular there is need for more extensive knowledge of the boundaries of the different attraction domains in which ecosystems can persist.

16 - A review on the fatal impact of pesticide toxicity on environment and human health

A marked increase in food production is necessary if the World Health Assembly goal of ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 is to be achieved. To this end, aquaculture plays a major role, but it could play an even more prominent role at least in some areas, especially Africa. There is a need to further develop aquaculture because harvesting from natural populations of potential food-species is not sustainable. At the same time aquaculture may also have some negative environmental and public health effects. Environmental effects are primarily due to eutrophication of natural habitats. Negative health effects are related to the potential presence of chemical residuals (medicine residuals or heavy metals from feed), pathogens or parasites in the final product. In Africa, there is a special concern that aquaculture facilities could contribute to increased transmission of schistosomes. Aquaculture development and the possible problems and their mitigation are discussed. The possible integration of mini-livestock with aquaculture is considered.

Urban green areas retain just a small fraction of tree reproductive diversity of the Atlantic forest

The availability of agricultural land is central to stimulating reserves in sustainable food and crop production amidst accelerating economic sustainability and growth. Therefore, this article aims to investigate the influence of agricultural land (AGL) on food production (FP) and crop production (CP) with the linkage of environmental sustainability (ES) as a moderator from 1990 to 2021 for the economy of China with the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing estimation model. Our findings showed that the ARDL model estimates the long-term and short-term joint matching relationships between agricultural land and the independent variables in the model, which is a statistically significant outcome. Therefore, in the long term, the food and crop production adjustment for speed to steadiness was huge as it was projected at 1.337%, 53.6%, 133.5%, and 37.4%, respectively, in all the models, which shows that the adjustment for speed of models is a good post-shock association process. We found evidence for a significant and positive relationship between agricultural land and food and crop production in ordinary least square (OLS) estimation, which also ensured the outcomes of the primary model. Furthermore, Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality test estimation found reverse causality between food production (FP) and crop production (CP) and showed evidence of the conservation hypothesis. We found bidirectional causality between food production and agricultural land and between crop production and agricultural land, which shows evidence of the feedback hypothesis. Additionally, the empirical findings of a robustness check with fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) techniques showed consistency with the investigations of ARDL estimation in the long run, ensuring the validity and strength of the primary outcomes. Overall, the present paper brings fresh knowledge about agricultural land use, and food and crop production to promote environmental sustainability.

While the impact of climate change on the agriculture is highly publicized, other environmental problems such as pests and crop diseases are no less significant. To combat their adverse effects, diverse plant protection products (PPPs) can be adopted as a means of prevention and eradication of harmful organisms. However, empirical evidence shows that inappropriate PPP use is a major obstacle to the attainment of high-quality and healthy agricultural products. As incorrect PPP application leads to pesticide residues on edible produce, it poses risk to human and animal health, but also contributes to environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, and financial losses. Thus, to provide sufficient food for continually expanding world population, the use of available agricultural land has to be maximized by optimizing the agricultural production without undermining health and safety or increasing cost. This ambitious goal can only be achieved through the sustainable PPP use, given that a significant reduction or a complete ban of PPPs would lower the yield, leading to limited availability and higher product prices. Unprofessional and uncontrolled use of PPPs is unacceptable for consumers, and climate change makes the PPP application outcomes difficult to predict, it is crucial to manage future PPP use as a part of the safe food production initiative. In Europe, sustainable PPP use is governed by the Directive 2009/128/EC, which mandates high degree of professionalism from not only farmers, but also plant protection experts and local authorities. Close cooperation among these entities can secure sustainable food production focused on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and non-chemical alternatives to pesticides, while eliminating the risk of PPP residues, thereby protecting human health and the environment. In the Republic of Serbia, legislation on the PPP use is harmonized with the EU law. Specifically, Law on Plant Protection Products prescribes that all farmers must complete mandatory training on the sustainable PPP use, whereby only certified individuals are permitted to purchase and use PPPs in keeping with the relevant application guidelines.

Being efficient and green by rethinking the urban-rural divide—Combining urban expansion and food production by integrating an ecosystem service perspective into urban planning

The European Commission's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, under the European Green Deal, acknowledges that innovative techniques, including biotechnology, may play a role in increasing sustainability. At the same time, organic farming will be promoted, and at least 25% of the EU's agricultural land shall be under organic farming by 2030. How can both biotechnology and organic farming be developed and promoted simultaneously to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We illustrate that achieving the SDGs benefits from the inclusion of recent innovations in biotechnology in organic farming. This requires a change in the law. Otherwise, the planned increase of organic production in the F2F strategy may result in less sustainable, not more sustainable, food systems.

The study examines the dynamics of urban expansion and changes in land use in Addis Ababa from 1993 to 2023 using satellite data and GIS analysis, as well as the benefit transfer approach for valuing ecosystem services. In addition, an expert survey was conducted using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method to determine the factors driving urban expansion. Results reveal oscillations in urban expansion rates and intensities over the three-decade period. While the 2003–2013 decade witnessed rapid urban growth, subsequent years showed a slowdown. The overall period (1993–2023) has an intensity index greater than 1, indicating that urban areas expanded faster than the city’s overall growth during the entire time frame. Land cover analysis revealed a significant decrease in green areas and croplands and a remarkable increase in built-up areas. In aggregate, the natural land cover was reduced by 128.6% whereas built-up increased by 224.7%. This shift signifies a transition from natural and agricultural land uses to urbanization and development. Moreover, the study evaluates changes in ecosystem service values (ESVs), indicating a consistent decline over time, particularly in forestlands and urban green areas. The significant alteration in land use that built up caused to ecosystems has resulted in an annual loss of 90.7 million USD from 1993 to 2023 in terms of ecosystem service value. The most significant impacts were observed in food production, climate regulation, and habitat ecosystem services. The encroachment of built-up areas on different land use categories leads to substantial losses in ecosystem service values. Socioeconomic factors, notably population growth and migration, emerge as primary drivers of urban expansion, emphasizing the interconnectedness of demographic changes and land use patterns. Overall, the findings underscore the complex interplay between urban expansion, land use dynamics, and ecosystem services in Addis Ababa, highlighting the importance of informed urban planning and policy interventions to mitigate adverse environmental impacts.

Numerous cities are developing ambitious climate action plans, reducing fossil fuel CO2 emissions and increasing carbon removals through urban greening. Monitoring their progress towards carbon neutrality requires novel observational and modelling approaches. A major challenge is the accurate attribution between the anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the biogenic CO2 fluxes. Widely applied methods in natural ecosystems, such as source partitioning using eddy covariance observations or ecosystem model simulations, are hampered by the extreme heterogeneity of the urban environment. Within ICOS-Cities project, intensive field ecophysiological and meteorological observations were implemented in several green areas of Zurich, Munich, and Paris. These included continuous tree sap-flow, soil temperature/moisture, and local meteorology observations, as well as regular field campaigns of tree leaf area index and chamber gas exchange measurements at soils, lawns and tree leaves. This study presents a new CO2 assimilation and respiration model, which is calibrated, forced and constrained by the available in-situ observations, simulating hourly tree and lawn CO2 fluxes, representative of the observation areas. The photosynthetic CO2 assimilation model is constrained based on sap-flow estimated stomatal conductance for trees, and an empirical estimation of stomatal conductance based on vapour pressure deficit and soil moisture for lawns. Plant and soil respiration is modelled based on calibrated versions of the Arrhenius equation, considering also soil moisture in the case of soil respiration. The model is evaluated in an urban forest in Paris using eddy covariance data. The simulated fluxes are compared between locations and cities to assess the carbon sequestration potential of the urban green areas and identify the effects of the local environment and management practices on the urban biospheric processes. The first results indicate that old parks with reduced impervious land cover show high carbon sequestration and are less vulnerable to summer drought.

The global agricultural production needs to go up by 70% until 2050, to keep pace with ever-increasing human population and is a major challenge of this century. Green revolution and heavy use of chemical pesticides have helped to achieve feeding objective in the past few decades by developing high-yielding cultivars and reducing yield losses due to weeds, pests, and diseases. The use of biocontrol agents is almost a century-old concept in agriculture, but their applications were limited due to the development of highly effective chemical pesticides in the past half a dozen decades. However, chemical insecticides have prolonged leaching residual effects, leading to environmental damages and adverse effects on other organisms involved in the biogeochemical cycle. Besides, excessive use of chemical pesticides generates tolerance in pests. Therefore, safer pest management options are required to preserve environmental sustainability. The use of biocontrol agents with specificity in their targets is one of the widespread pest control approaches in plant health management. Recently, increased demand for biocontrol agents is mainly the result of the changed perception of human–society preferring a healthy environment and safety over the effectiveness with harmful side effects. Most successful of all the biocontrol agents, Bacillus thuringiensis and its potential as a biocontrol agent, is discussed in this chapter.

Occupational health risk of farmers exposed to pesticides in agricultural activities

Pesticides are frequently applied in agricultural land, public health programs, and maintenance of trees or plants and also used as preservatives for different food materials for a long time. But these pesticides cause a lot of negative health and environmental impacts which affects the sustainability of an ecosystem. Among the different pesticides organophosphorus pesticide mostly used in agricultural purposes to prevent the disease causing agents like insects, pests, parasite due to its less persistence in our environment. Synthetic pesticide like Nuvan accumulations in the tissues of animals produce cyto-toxicity and have severed health issues due to its persistent nature. When these pesticides intake by aquatic animals specially fishes, they can interfere with the food chain. When such contaminated fishes eaten by someone they can destroy multiple systems in the body of human and other livings. Changes in blood biochemical indices gives signs what is happening in body of animals after exposure of pesticides. Most edible and commercially valuable freshwater fish Clarias batrachus was used in this work for analyzed the hazardous nature of toxic pesticide nuvan on some biochemical parameters. When fish exposed to two sub-lethal levels of nuvan (0.0137 ml/L and 0.0274 ml/L) for 60 days showed that the pesticide induces changes in blood parameters. The results showed very highly significant (p<0.001) increase in Low- density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL) and highly significant (p<0.01) increase in Very low- density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL) while very highly significant (p<0.001) reduction in high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL) were noted in treated groups compared with the control. This study implicates that adverse effect on lipoproteins due to synthetic pesticides have a negative health effect as cardiovascular risk status. Research of environmental pollution and its adverse effects on human and other animals including fish is remarkable which can leads the sustainability of our environment.

Abstract. The Tarim River basin, located in Xinjiang, NW China, is the largest endorheic river basin in China and one of the largest in all of Central Asia. Due to the extremely arid climate, with an annual precipitation of less than 100 mm, the water supply along the Aksu and Tarim rivers solely depends on river water. This is linked to anthropogenic activities (e.g., agriculture) and natural and semi-natural ecosystems as both compete for water. The ongoing increase in water consumption by agriculture and other human activities in this region has been enhancing the competition for water between human needs and nature. Against this background, 11 German and 6 Chinese universities and research institutes have formed the consortium SuMaRiO (Sustainable Management of River Oases along the Tarim River; http://www.sumario.de), which aims to create a holistic picture of the availability of water resources in the Tarim River basin and the impacts on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems caused by the water distribution within the Tarim River basin. On the basis of the results from field studies and modeling approaches as well as from suggestions by the relevant regional stakeholders, a decision support tool (DST) will be implemented that will then assist stakeholders in balancing the competition for water, acknowledging the major external effects of water allocation to agriculture and to natural ecosystems. This consortium was formed in 2011 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. As the data collection phase was finished this year, the paper presented here brings together the results from the fields from the disciplines of climate modeling, cryology, hydrology, agricultural sciences, ecology, geoinformatics, and social sciences in order to present a comprehensive picture of the effects of different water availability schemes on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems along the Tarim River. The second objective is to present the project structure of the whole consortium, the current status of work (i.e., major new results and findings), explain the foundation of the decision support tool as a key product of this project, and conclude with application recommendations for the region. The discharge of the Aksu River, which is the major tributary of the Tarim, has been increasing over the past 6 decades. From 1989 to 2011, agricultural area more than doubled: cotton became the major crop and there was a shift from small-scale to large-scale intensive farming. The ongoing increase in irrigated agricultural land leads to the increased threat of salinization and soil degradation caused by increased evapotranspiration. Aside from agricultural land, the major natural and semi-natural ecosystems are riparian (Tugai) forests, shrub vegetation, reed beds, and other grassland, as well as urban and peri-urban vegetation. Within the SuMaRiO cluster, focus has been set on the Tugai forests, with Populus euphratica as the dominant tree species, because these forests belong to the most productive and species-rich natural ecosystems of the Tarim River basin. At sites close to the groundwater, the annual stem diameter increments of Populus euphratica correlated with the river runoffs of the previous year. However, the natural river dynamics cease along the downstream course and thus hamper the recruitment of Populus euphratica. A study on the willingness to pay for the conservation of the natural ecosystems was conducted to estimate the concern of the people in the region and in China's capital. These household surveys revealed that there is a considerable willingness to pay for conservation of the natural ecosystems, with mitigation of dust and sandstorms considered the most important ecosystem service. Stakeholder dialogues contributed to creating a scientific basis for a sustainable management in the future.

Sustainability has recently become a buzzword for agricultural programs in education, extension, research, and government policy. For effective communications among those teaching, studying, and practicing agriculture, it is essential that there be some agreement as to the definition of the term sustainable agriculture. The definition should be general enough to accommodate the wide range of agricultural situations in which it will be applied, yet specific enough to provide criteria by which the sustainability of alternative systems may be judged. To allow the greatest combination of utility and flexibility, the definition should be “ends oriented” rather than “means oriented.” This article presents one such definition, discusses several definitions proposed by others, and attempts to clarify some concepts such as “low‐input” often associated with the sustainability issue.