Developing Integrated Methods for Biological Conservation and Sustainable Production in Agricultural Landscapes

Abstract

As one of the most dominated landscapes in the global terrestrial area, the agricultural landscape contributes greatly to global biodiversity conservation while providing essential food products. However, in the last few decades intensive agricultural production has driven the dramatic loss of biodiversity providing various ecological services critical to sustainable food production. Land sparing and land sharing approaches, two hotly debated measures to reconcile biodiversity conservation and food security to face the challenge of feeding nine billion people, all fail to consider real world complexity and provide limited solutions. We propose that knowledge and technologies including landscape assessment and planning, sustainable intensive or ecologically intensive agricultural practices, elaborate ecological design at different scales, ecological engineering and biotechnology, should be integrated as a more robust solution. Meanwhile, more incentives and innovative policies for sustainability – with the consideration of social, economic and cultural agents in the biocultural landscape – should also be combined to ensure the efficient and proper application of the above mentioned knowledge and technology to achieve the aim of food security without compromising biodiversity and sustainability.