The state of food and agriculture 2007

Dec 2007

Agricultural ecosystems are by far the largest managed ecosystems in the world. Of the total land area of about 13 billion hectares, crops and pasture occupy almost 5 billion hectares. Forests and woodlands add another 4 billion hectares. Inland, coastal and marine fisheries ecosystems also generate crucial services for humans.
Today, the provision of ecosystem services generally, and agriculture-based services in particular, is being challenged as never before by the combined effects of expanding populations, rapid economic growth and greater global integration. Agriculture is being asked to provide an ever-growing supply of ecosystem-based goods and services. The world’s population is expected to increase by 50 percent between 2000 and 2050, with the developing countries home to almost all of that growth. Analyses indicate that there is likely to be sufficient overall food production at the global level to meet expected increases in effective demand, although such analyses have not yet incorporated the recent surge in demand for biofuels. About 80 percent of the increase in land-based agricultural production is expected to derive from increased input use and improved technology on existing agricultural land, while area expansion in parts of South America and sub-Saharan Africa is expected to account for the remaining 20 percent.
Both sources of increased production can exacerbate damage to land-based ecosystems.
Expansion in environmentally fragile areas is especially harmful to biodiversity. Poorly managed intensification can result in soil erosion pressure on water supplies, rising nitrate levels in ground - and surface water, salinization, and growing air and water pollution from livestock wastes. Coastal and marine ecosystems are also under pressure.
In response, the search for ways to enhance ecosystem services is gaining attention from policy-makers as well as non-governmental and private decision-makers. This search provides the motivation for this report. The chapters that follow examine the incentives farmers face when making choices that affect the provision of ecosystem services and focus particularly on a mechanism that has generated growing interest in recent years – direct payments to farmers to enhance the delivery of selected ecosystem services.

By: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

 
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