Frédéric Baudron presents arguments for why conservation should invest more in agriculture given various pressures on land and food security. Currently less than 5% of major conservation organizations' budgets are spent on agriculture despite most terrestrial land being dominated by human uses. Both wildlife-friendly farming and land sparing approaches have limitations without flexibility based on species, landscape, and socioeconomic factors. Conservation has tended to favor large vertebrates over other species and tropical areas over temperate ones. More integrated landscape approaches are needed that improve resource use efficiency, habitat connectivity, and economic incentives while supporting beneficial policies.

1. Frédéric Baudron
CIMMYT Ethiopia
f.baudron@cgiar.org
Why & How Should
Conservation Invest in
Agriculture?

2. WHY?

3. Agriculture under pressure
 Rising number of
undernourished people
 National food security… and
political stability
 Additional 3 billion people by
2050
 Increasing wealth
Growing number of undernourished people
(FAO, 2009)
Food price and violent protests (Lagi et al.,
2011)

4. (FAO, 2010)
Challenge Mainly for
Developing Countries

5. Fate of the Last
Biodiversity-rich Areas?

6. Is Agriculture a High
Priority for Conservation?
TNC:
723.7
M USD
WCS:
199.3
M US$
WWF:
186.8
M US$
CI:
138.8 M
US$
 Budget of the 4
largest conservation
organizations > 1.2
billion US$/year
 < 5% invested in
agriculture
 Support of the
‘wilderness approach’
(i.e. protected areas)

7.  Only 12% of all terrestrial
land is protected
 Growing underfunding of
protected areas
 Species range shift due to
climate change
 Earth is dominated by
humans
Why Conserve Biodiversity
outside of Protected Areas?
(from Balmford et al., 2001)

8. (from Willis et al., 2004)
Wild Areas?

9. HOW?

10. Biotic removal s &
additions Altered habitat
Altered biogeochemical &
hydrological cycles
Altered disturbance
regime
Negative Consequences of
Agriculture on Biodiversity
Food Fuel
FiberFood
Change in
biodiversity
Altered ecosystem
processes
INCREASED
HUMAN BENEFITS
AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES

11.  Wildlife-friendly farming
– Integration
– Reduction in use of agro-chemicals & retention of
patches of natural vegetation
 Land Sparing
– Separation
– Concentration of production in areas as small as
possible by maximizing yield
Minimizing the Impact of
Agriculture on Biodiversity?

12. What Approach does
Conservation Favour?
Conservation
Cotton
Initiative
Coffee And
Farmer Equity

13. Above specified
treshold
No specification
No specification
Retention of
patches of natural
vegetation
Efficient use
Minimum or
prohibited use
Controlled
Yield
Pesticides & herbicides
On-farm biodiversity
Land clearance
What Approach does
Conservation Favour?

14.  Species-specific response
– ‘agriculturaly naive’ species
in developping countries
 Requires large areas
– Low yield
– Production of organic inputs
– Possibility of displacement
– Land reserves exhausted by
2050
Limits of Wildlife-Friendly
Farming
0
2
4
6
Annualadditionalland(Mha)
Minimum
Maximum
(from Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2011)

15.  Elastic demand for food crops
 Shift to other crops
 Economic attractants
 Far-reaching impacts of agro-
chemicals
 Poor access to the required
knowledge and capital
Limits of Land Sparing

16.  Philosophy
 Threat
– Intensification vs. expansion
 Species of interest
 Landscape
– Topography, productivity, ‘spatial grain’
 Socio-economic factors
– Land pressure, endowment, technological options, markets, policies
What Criteria to Take into
Consideration ?

17. DensityRelativetoIntactNaturalHabitat
Yield
1
0
Species better suited to
Wildlife-Friendly Farming
Species better suited
to Land Sparing
Yield-Density Function
(from Green et al., 2005)

18. What are Conservation’s
Flagship Species?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
WCS WWF CI TNC
Proportionofterrestrialflagship
species
Large- and medium-sized
vertebrates
Others
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
WCS WWF CI TNC
Proportionofterrestrialflagship
species
Top predators and
megaherbivores
Others
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
WCS WWF CI TNC
Proportionofterrestrialflagship
species
Tropical and sub-tropical
Others

19. Sensitivity of Mega-fauna to
Human Impact
(Surrovell et al., 2005)
(Steadman et al., 2005)
0
20
40
60
80
Africa Australia Europe North AmericaSouth America
Genericextinction
(%)
0
20
40
60
80
100
0.01 - 5 5 - 100 100 - 1000 > 1000
Genericextinction
(%)
Body mass range (kg)

20.  Resource use efficiency
– ‘Biomass tradeoffs’
 Habitat connectivity
– Soft matrix, corridors, etc
 Improving the economics
– Taking into account
ecosystem services
 Supporting policies
General Principles
(from Barnosky, 2008)
(from Fischer et al., 2008)

21.  Conservation organizations and agriculture:
– Low investment
– Biais towards wildlife-friendy farming
 Pragmatism and flexibility
 We need to better understand:
– The tradeoffs between production and other ecosystem
services (Kareiva et al., 2007)
– the necessary mix and levels of capitals
(natural, social, etc) required for resilient socio-
ecological systems (Abel et al., 2006)
Conclusion

22. THANK YOU