Farmers in the developing world face challenges to produce enough food for growing populations. Climate change, which is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events and making growing seasons less predictable, makes the challenge of increasing food production more difficult. Moreover, agriculture contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. We face a common challenge to adapt to climate change, increase crop yields, and mitigate green house gas emissions.
Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from forests, freshwater, and other ecosystems—water, soil fertility, biodiversity, and climate regulation among the most critical. Ecosystem services are central to sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Agricultural production and food systems everywhere depend on and should contribute to ecosystem health. Decisions we make regarding how to manage crops and agricultural landscapes have environmental implications, including for biodiversity and a wide range of ecosystem services, such as water quality, pollination, nutrient cycling, soil retention, and carbon sequestration. Agro-ecosystem management should aim not only to increase the productivity of existing agricultural land, but also to maintain ecosystem functions underpinning the sustainable supply of goods and services.
Because of population growth and climate change, pressures on scarce natural resources are mounting. As water demand grows for household, industrial, and agricultural uses, the functioning and quality of watersheds and irrigated land are deteriorating. Desertification, deforestation, overgrazing, salinization, and soil erosion are increasing as well, especially in developing countries. As a result, precious natural resources—from fertile soil to freshwater streams—are rapidly diminishing, with devastating impacts on the poor, who rely on these resources to generate most of their income and subsistence goods.