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DISCUSSION No. 123   •   FSN Forum digest No. 1207


Harnessing the benefits of ecosystem services for effective ecological intensification in agriculture

until 21 December 2015




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Dear Members,
The discussion on Harnessing the benefits of ecosystem services for effective ecological intensification in agriculture<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/liberation> attracted the first contributions. Please find them below along with a welcome note by Danielle Nierenberg, facilitator of the discussion.
Ecological intensification is a promising solution to meet the growing demand for agricultural products over the next few decades.
The questions proposed aim to encourage dialogue and sharing of knowledge and research on key aspects of ecological intensification: 1) how to maximize the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of field and landscape interventions? 2) which policy measures can facilitate such interventions?, and 3) how to raise awareness of such practices among farmers?
Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on ecological intensification. You can find the full topic on the discussion page<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/liberation>, also available in French<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/fr/forum/discussions/liberation> and Spanish<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/es/forum/discussions/liberation>.
We look forward to further comments.
Your FSN Forum team





Danielle Nierenberg, facilitator of the discussion

Hi, everyone:
Welcome to the discussion on Harnessing the Benefits of Ecosystem Services for Effective Ecological Intensification! Thank you for the comments so far--please keep them coming!

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I wanted to share with you some links to Food Tank's Harvesting the Research series. Food Tank is partnering with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to highlight original scientific research about Project LIBERATION. The LIBERATION project aims to provide the evidence-base for the potential of ecological intensification to sustainably enhance food security with minimal negative impacts on the environment.
Regarding the policies needed for farmers to adopt ecological intensification, we interviewed Dr. Brian Petersen foodtank.com/news/2015/08/harvesting-the-research-ecological-intensification-can-feed-the-world<http://foodtank.com/news/2015/08/harvesting-the-research-ecological-intensification-can-feed-the-world> and he discusses how the shift to ecological intensification would require political and economic support. According to Petersen "It would have to! In order for this to change, there would need to be a complete paradigm shift in how agriculture is viewed and funded. Many stakeholders would end up losing if there were a shift away from business-as-usual agriculture, which is a major barrier to implementation of ecological intensification. Many of the experts believe that a complete shift in paradigm will require a tremendous amount of public support, not only from the populations of different countries, but also from governments. They believe that subsidies and tax incentives currently benefit wealthy corporations profiting off of sustainable intensification or conventional agriculture. If we don’t shift public support toward more ecological agriculture, it’s going to have catastrophic consequences, in my view and in the view of the scientists we interviewed."
Thanks again for your comments and feedback. We look forward to the discussion!






CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

[cid:image003.png@01D12D16.C62FB200]Frédéric Mousseau, The Oakland Institute, USA

Frédéric shares a collection of case studies which show the tremendous success of agro-ecological agriculture across Africa in the face of climate change, hunger, and poverty. Examples of approaches and techniques used to increase yields in a sustainable way are also included. [...]
Link to the case studies<http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/agroecology-case-studies>



[cid:image003.png@01D12D16.C62FB200]David Colozza, FAO, Italy

As a member of the LIBERATION Project team, David welcomes all FSN Forum members to this new online discussion and encourages in particular researchers working on issues of ecological intensification to cite their research and use this forum as a platform to share findings and results. [...]
Read the contribution<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-harnessing-benefits-ecosystem-services-effective-ecological-intensification-0>



[cid:image003.png@01D12D16.C62FB200]Anique Hillbrand, FAO, Italy

Anique shares an example of policy measures being implemented in Germany to limit the risks of loss of fertile soil when uncovered farmland is exposed to heavy rainfall or high wind: the ministry is targeting farmers to make them aware of this problem and rewards those who adopt certain criteria in their soil management. [...]
Read the contribution <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-harnessing-benefits-ecosystem-services-effective-ecological-intensification-1>





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