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农业和生物多样性:农业综合企业的挑战和机遇

农业是全球经济的关键电动机之一。它是食物,纤维以及越来越多的燃料的来源。它为全球最多的人提供了生计和生计。这对于农村发展至关重要,因此对于缓解贫困至关重要。

耕地,包括耕地和耕种,占地约24%。部分或完全灌溉的农业要求世界上70%的淡水供应。如今,农业占全球就业的38%以上。

它支持的生物多样性和生态系统服务对于成功的农业至关重要。农业依赖于生物多样性来授粉,创造遗传多样的植物和作物品种,稳健,抗病或抗病菌株的发展,作物保护和分水岭的控制。简而言之,农业对整个生态系统服务范围有很高的依赖。

Competition

It is estimated that a significant amount of the world's wild biodiversity is found in or around agricultural landscapes. Historically, agriculture served to attract and create new strains of biodiversity. It led to the creation of new plant and seed strains, attracted new animal species and fashioned fresh habitats for biodiversity. Together agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystems constitute a finely interwoven mesh of cross-cutting impacts and challenges.

如今,他们面临着过多的普通威胁。气候变化正在驱动物种损失并导致荒漠化。同样,外来入侵物种数量的增长正在威胁生物多样性和损害农产品。同时,对农业和对生物多样性的压力的需求迫使两者竞争。

在过去的150年中,土地进行了大规模的转换,为农业和其他活动腾出了空间,以应对不断增长的世界人口的需求。土地利用变化既有积极和负面影响。生物多样性可以从农业中受益。使土地生产力通常有助于吸引更大的生物多样性,而土地转换为农业森林也可以鼓励更大的生物多样性。

经过that same token, negatives can become positives, land that was once considered unproductive because it lacked the necessary nutrients for crop production, often supports a high number of species; this is now widely acknowledged as very important. But deforestation, for example, to make way for agricultural activities has been a significant driver of biodiversity and ecosystem loss.

全球农业面临巨大压力。仅仅人口增长并不是促进食物和非食物作物需求的责任。随着人群变得越来越富裕,消费方式正在发生变化,对蛋白质(例如肉类和牛奶产品)的需求正在上升。

例如,生产1公斤鸡肉需要2公斤谷物,这进一步扩大了对谷物的需求,更不用说对虚拟水的需求增加了。据估计,世界谷物股票目前在二十年来一直处于最低和平时期的水平。同样,农村 - 城市的迁移正在减少农业劳动的可用性。

联合国人口部estimates that, for the first time, the global urban population has outstripped the rural one, putting greater pressure on farmers to increase production to feed urban populations. In addition, the quest for carbon-neutral energy sources, as well as water scarcity, global food sourcing, fluctuating commodity prices and disproportionate government support to agricultural investment all collude to put further pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity.

生物多样性是农业,粮食生产和可持续发展的基础。对于种子的创新,生物多样性是至关重要的“原材料”。因此,生物多样性损失代表着重大的业务风险。

这agricultural sector and the down-stream value chain -- food, biochemistry, pharmaceutical, and textile industries -- are particularly vulnerable. They face operational risks, including diminishing supplies or rising costs of key resources and inputs, such as raw materials and water, for example.

其他潜在的挑战包括政府对获得生物多样性的限制;如果未达到公众期望,声誉和执照损害;随着金融界采用更严格的贷款和投资政策,可能会限制获得资本的机会。

As the world's population continues to grow, with the knock-on effects this will have on requirements for land (for building and other uses), and demand for renewable resources to counter climate change continues to rise, it would be unrealistic to set past species diversity on cultivated land as a desired target. This level of ambition ignores not only the source and origin of this "diversity," but also generally the fundamental requirements of sustainable development, biodiversity and ecosystems.

由于整体土地是有限的,并且进一步侵占了原始的栖息地,因此必须使农业在已经裁过的土地上更有效和可持续。这种认识并非完全是最近的。

在过去的50年中,不使用不断改善的农业技术(种子,农作物保护产品,肥料,机械化,灌溉等),必须将北美规模的地块变成农田。战后需要形状的农业政策,这倾向于以野生动植物和农业生态系统的可持续性为代价提高生产率。竞彩足球app怎么下载综合技术知识仅在1980年代和1990年代才真正融入其中。

可持续农业

这major challenge today therefore is to secure and increase agricultural yield while at the same time conserving biodiversity, ecosystems, and resources as well as maintaining a healthy base for those who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. In other words, balancing agricultural productivity with the needs of ecosystems and biodiversity to ensure they are all able to deliver their services in a sustainable manner.

实现这一目标的关键在于实施可持续农业。这种更整体和系统的方法整合了可持续性的三个支柱:盈利能力,环境保护和社会公平。竞彩足球app怎么下载它包括一个前提,即在支持生物多样性和生态系统健康的同时需要管理农业。正在实施的综合作物管理(ICM)策略包括为农田设定生物多样性保护目标,例如维护或增强野生动植物栖息地。

Similarly, low-till, and conservation agriculture are also widely promoted approaches. Low-tillage avoids plowing the soil. Not only does this circumvent the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels that accompanies tractor plowing, this approach -- often facilitated by herbicides -- also helps avoids soil erosion and improves water retention, by maintaining more organic material in the soil.

农业部门拥有大量与生物多样性的知识,因此在生态系统和生物多样性资源的有效管理方面具有巨大的范围。农民是农业景观,其支持生态系统和生物多样性的管理者。

至关重要的是,业务在实现农业可持续性中起着至关重要的作用。竞彩足球app怎么下载特别是,那些生物创作和农业领域的公司可以提供使农业更有效的解决方案。一些WBCSD成员公司正在不断努力开发作物技术,从而使农业生产更加有效,同时尊重生物多样性。

可用的解决方案包括能源和水有效的灌溉技术,节能收获机制等。类似地,针对种子的新特征(较高的产量和质量)和作物保护技术的绿色生物技术解决方案也将有助于实现生物多样性和与生态系统相关的目标。

Market Mechanisms

Market mechanisms too may help achieve sustainable agricultural production and exploitation; particularly for companies further down the value chain that rely indirectly on agriculture and agricultural products. Examples include paying farmers for the supply of ecosystem services such as field margin management, watershed protection or planting cover crops to prevent soil erosion. Trading environmental liabilities such as carbon emissions, wetland mitigation credits, or even biodiversity restoration credits may provide incentives for sustainable consumption. Finally, the use of certification schemes for sustainable production practices could also result in biodiversity and ecosystem gains as well as offer profitable business opportunities for farmers. These may prove essential if integration of biodiversity enhancements into agro-ecosystems is to yield positive results.

为了促进鼓励保护或增强生物多样性的农业的目标,迫切需要设计可行的市场机制,以量化和利用农业生态系统服务的经济价值为这些服务的受益人。

许多公司都愿意进行投资,并开发投资并开发技术和方法来为可持续农业做出贡献,这是由建立的商业计划的数量见证的,以标准化认证程序和环境标准。

但是,为此,他们需要获得经济投资回报,因此依靠基于支持的基于科学的政策框架和知识产权。政府需要设定目标并提供必要的政策和市场框架。但是,如果没有足够的执行机制,此类目标将保持毫无意义。

Similarly, any policy framework needs to be properly integrated across a wide variety of sectors and technologies, as well as regions, to ensure that it does not create perverse or counter-incentives. Business and many leading non-governmental organizations are ready to work with governments to achieve these objectives.

Annik Dollacker和Juan Gonzalez-Valero代表Ecosystems Focus Area世界商业委员会可持续发展。本文最初发表在《生物多样性公约》的商业和生物多样性时事通讯中,Business.2010

Cow photo licensed under the Creative Commons bypurefinder

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