Wetlands and agriculture: for many this may seem a strange juxtaposition because wetlands and agriculture are often perceived to be conflicting. Today, a widespread perception is that agriculture simply destroys wetlands, undermining biodiversity and degrading all the beneficial ecosystem services that they provide.
More wetlands have been drained in the name of extending and improving agriculture than for any other reason. Yet real farmers often object, especially smallholders dependent on wetlands for parts of their livelihoods.
As scientists strategize about how best to introduce a holistic, “landscapes” approach to balance tradeoffs between conservation and development, policymakers and practitioners are considering how they can “invest” in landscapes, and whether they can be billed as investment opportunities.
If you drink a glass of water in Mexico City, you should know that its journey probably began in the watershed of the Amanalco Valle Bravo Basin. Sixty percent of the land that supports this water supply is owned by communities and cooperatives of family farmers. Sustainable land management is critical to protect this vital water supply.
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration has made a tremendous impact across swaths of West and East Africa where trees had been cleared for agriculture. Now through proper pruning and protection, these trees could grow back, and in turn support entire ecosystem and increase food production.
Achieving food security in the context of Africa is unimaginable without climate change adaptation and practices that support food production while enhancing the ecosystem services and biodiversity that underpin agricultural productivity.
In China, increased pressure from human and livestock populations has resulted in 90% of the pastoral land being classified as degraded to some degree, especially in the more arid regions where ecosystems are the most fragile.
To mitigate risks of ecosystem service degradation, we need to ensure that tradeoffs are managed through informed land use, especially in high potential agricultural areas, such as the Guinea Savanna zone in Africa.
Soils should be at the heart of "climate-smart agriculture". No-till agriculture is as good at capturing carbon as planting a rainforest -- and should be treated as a similar "carbon credit" in any future deal to set up a carbon trading system round the world, says Guadagni of the World Bank.
Currently the cost of land degradation reaches about US$490 billion per year, much higher than the cost of action to prevent it. To rectify this we should first get the basics right: credible quantitative information about current status, drivers, indicators, thresholds, and spatial variability.
