Ecoagriculture

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Author: Sara Scherr

[edit] What is Ecoagriculture?

“Ecoagriculture” describes landscapes that support both agricultural production and biodiversity conservation, working in harmony together to improve the livelihoods of rural communities.

While many rural communities have independently practiced ecoagriculture for thousands of years, over the past century many of these landscapes have given way to segregated land use patterns, with some areas employing intensive farming practices without regard to biodiversity impacts, and other areas fenced off completely for habitat or watershed protection. A new ecoagriculture movement is now gaining momentum to unite land managers and other stakeholders from diverse environments to find compatible ways to conserve biodiversity while also enhancing agricultural production.

The ecoagriculture movement was first recognized internationally in a joint study of the World Conservation Union and the Future Harvest Foundation published in 2001 called “Common Ground, Common Future” (McNeely and Scherr 2001). The report was later expanded to become a book called “Ecoagriculture” (McNeely and Scherr 2003). The study confirmed the dominant influence of agriculture on wild species and habitats around the world, and also identified promising examples of land use strategies and practices that benefited both.

Ecoagriculture is both a conservation strategy and a rural development strategy. Ecoagriculture recognizes agricultural producers and communities as key stewards of ecosystems and biodiversity and enables them to play those roles effectively. Ecoagriculture applies an integrated ecosystem approach to agricultural landscapes to address all three pillars -- conserving biodiversity, enhacing agricultural production, and improving livelihoods -- drawing on diverse elements of production and conservation management systems. Meeting the goals of ecoagriculture usually requires collaboration or coordination between diverse stakeholders who are collectively responsible for managing key components of a landscape.

For more details, please read The Nairobi Declaration, a joint statement by the participants of the October 2004 International Ecoagriculture Conference and Practitioners' Fair in Nairobi, Kenya, that defines their agreed principles of ecoagriculture. [1]

For more information and examples, see http://www.ecoagriculturepartners.org.

References

- McNeely, J. and S. Scherr, 2003. Ecoagriculture: strategies to feed the world and save wild biodiversity. Island Press, London, UK.

- The Nairobi Declaration on Ecoagriculture, http://www.ecoagriculturepartners.org/whatis/nairobideclaration.htm

- “Farming with Nature,” Special Issue of LEISA Magazine on Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture- December 2004, Volume 20, Number 4, http://www.leisa.info/index.php?url=magazine-list.tpl&p[source]=ILEIA