Agriculture has shaped most of the world’s cultures, economies and landscapes. With about 40% of the world’s population – three billion people – classified as ‘small-scale farmers’, agriculture is vital to livelihoods, providing development opportunities for billions of people and food for virtually everyone on the planet.
Unsustainable agricultural practices undermine the very ecosystem services on which producers, rural populations, and ultimately all of us, depend, reducing water quality and quantity, increasing vulnerability to pests, diseases, floods and droughts, and adversely affecting pollination, soil formation and nutrient cycling.
If well managed and well planned, however, agriculture has real potential to help conserve biodiversity, use natural resources sustainably, improve livelihoods and increase food security.