Project
Farming and biodiversity: an impossible friendship?
This project aims at improving the way global biodiversity models take into account the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity. In particular, it focuses on the management intensity and diversity in agricultural land (e.g. polycultures, integration of livestock, presence of trees). It aims at considering agricultural intensity and diversity in global biodiversity models to account for their effects on biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services.
Introduction
Current global models account for agricultural land use as a pressure for biodiversity, where simplified farming systems are set as representative of agriculture, with very little differentiation on level of intensity. Diversification on farming systems, such as crop diversification, mixed crop-livestock systems and presence of natural elements in or around agricultural land are not considered when modelling impacts on biodiversity at a global scale. In reality, farming systems vary widely in the applied mixture of species (including crops and non-crop elements) and intensity (e.g. irrigation or use of fertilisers). The applied mixture and intensity level has implications for the harboured biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. These factors also influence the provision of ecosystem services that help to reduce or eliminate the use of external inputs such as pesticides.
Objective
This project aims to improve the land use modules of global biodiversity models, in particular the GLOBIO model, by characterising an array of diversified agricultural systems and estimating their associated biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services. We aim to assess the impact different scenarios of agricultural production would have on biodiversity, considering the productivity of the diversified agricultural systems.
Method
An array of methods will be used for this project. Literature review, expert interviews, meta-analyses and modeling are some of them.
(Expected) results
Classification of diversity and intensity of agricultural systems at global level. Characterization of the identified agricultural systems in terms of productivity, biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services. Evaluation of scenarios of agricultural production to produce enough food while preserving biodiversity.
Publications
Susana López Rodríguez, Lenny G.J. van Bussel, Rob Alkemade, 2024. Classification of agricultural land management systems for global modeling of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume 360, 2024, 108795, ISSN 0167-8809, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108795.
This project is in collaboration with PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.