Abstract
Current patterns of global change are threatening the supply of agrarian ecosystem services on which human well-being depends. Within this context, agroecology has emerged within political and scientific arenas as a socially equitable and ecologically sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture. We performed a systematic literature review to explore how agroecology and the ecosystem services framework have been adopted together in the scientific literature, focusing on studies including empirical data on the effects of agroecological practices on the supply of ecosystem services. In our search, we combined terms related to agricultural practices and terms related to ecosystem services. A total of 179 scientific articles were analyzed. Most of the studies used a biophysical approach to evaluate ecosystem services, with regulating and provisioning services being more frequently analyzed than cultural services. More than half of the analyzed relationships between agroecological practices and ecosystem services were positive. Remarkably, our review showed that many of the ten elements of agroecology defined by the FAO have not been properly addressed in the literature. Finally, we identified research gaps and provided insights on where future research and policies should be focused in order to promote the transition towards sustainable agrarian social-ecological systems that increase the supply of ecosystem services while minimizing environmental impacts.
Highlights
Agricultural systems are the most widespread land use on the planet, with permanent crops and pastures covering more than 37% of the terrestrial global surface [1,2]
This situation highlights the need for increasing research on the effects of agricultural practices on ecosystem services in those understudied geographical areas, which include the greatest number of countries around the world suffering from poverty and food insecurity [43]
Several studies acknowledge the contribution of agroecological practices in reducing poverty and food insecurity, increasing resilience, crop yields and ecosystem service supplies and satisfying economic, nutritional and social needs in Africa [44,45,46,47]
Summary
Agricultural systems are the most widespread land use on the planet, with permanent crops and pastures covering more than 37% of the terrestrial global surface [1,2]. The so-called Green Revolution (which emerged in the 1940s and spread worldwide during the 1960s and 1970s) introduced a new standardized set of technologies and high-yielding crop varieties within agricultural systems in the search for solutions to world hunger and food deprivation [3]. The projected growth from current over 7.5-billion world population to 9.7 billion in 2050 [12] raises questions about how agricultural systems should be adapted to supply enough food to satisfy the growing demand while maintaining ecosystem health and fostering social equity [13] To address this situation, conflicting approaches have been proposed by different researchers and stakeholder groups. While some authors defend the position of enhancing the efficiency of agricultural technologies, such as biotechnology or precision agriculture [14,15,16,17], others maintain the idea that the existing gap between food production, ecosystem sustainability and social equity can only be addressed through the implementation of more sustainable and ecologically based agroecosystems [18,19,20,21,22]
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