Thursday 21 August 2014

No Dominion Over Nature Report (online)

Experts predict that food production will need double in the next forty years. Some suggest this can only be achieved through intensification of industrial agricultural, while others suggest low input agriculture is the only path. This report suggests an alternative approach – maintaining ecosystem health through the management of environments as multifunctional mosaics, managed to provide a range of services, with sites of intensive production supported by contiguous areas providing different services. It requires 4 key changes: 1) counteraction of negative trends such as population growth, the impacts of climate change and unsustainable consumption patterns, 2) ecosystems should not be viewed and treated as machines for the production of food or fibre, rather they are more like organisms with multiple needs and functions, 3) technology and research are crucial in meeting the challenges ahead, 4) global markets in food and commodities need to recognise and value appropriately the positive services that ecosystems provide in addition to food.

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