Variety is the source of life
Agrobiodiversity benefits, challenges, and needs
For millennia, humankind’s food security and resilience were ensured by thousands of cultivated plant species, dozens of domesticated animal species, and the wider biodiversity from which they derive. But with the expansion of industrial agriculture and globalized standardized food systems, this long-running agricultural biodiversity has fallen steeply. Today, just three plant species account for half of all plant-based food calories, and only four animal species account for the vast majority of meat supplies. Looking ahead, restoring agrobiodiversity – the richness of what we cultivate, breed, consume, and conserve in the wild – is crucial to ensure resilient food systems against the backdrop of climate change. In particular, we must safeguard the livelihoods of the “guardians of agrobiodiversity”: approximately 500 million small farms across the world – particularly those in the global South. This factsheet outlines causes and consequences of agrobiodiversity loss, areas of promise, and options for policy and research.
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Swiss Academies Factsheets zur Biodiversität
- Insektenvielfalt in der Schweiz
- Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss jointly
- Pestizide: Auswirkungen auf Umwelt, Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen
- Achieving the SDGs with Biodiversity
- Übermässige Stickstoff- und Phosphoreinträge schädigen Biodiversität, Wald und Gewässer
- Biodiversity damaging subsidies in Switzerland
- Gene drives: benefits, risks, and possible applications
- Variety is the source of life
- Biodiversity, a guarantee of health?
- Insektenschwund in der Schweiz und mögliche Folgen für Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft
- Bienen und andere Bestäuber: Bedeutung für Landwirtschaft und Biodiversität (2014)
- Die Verbuschung des Alpenraums durch die Grünerle
- Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen auf globaler Ebene und in der Schweiz (2012)
- Kosten eines gesetzeskonformen Schutzes der Biotope nationaler Bedeutung
Swiss Academies Factsheets
- Insektenvielfalt in der Schweiz
- Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss jointly
- Pestizide: Auswirkungen auf Umwelt, Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen
- Achieving the SDGs with Biodiversity
- Übermässige Stickstoff- und Phosphoreinträge schädigen Biodiversität, Wald und Gewässer
- Biodiversity damaging subsidies in Switzerland
- How can local populations be won over to protected areas?
- Gene drives: benefits, risks, and possible applications
- Plant breeding – from cross breeding to genome editing
- Small state, big companies
- Variety is the source of life
- Chancen und Auswirkungen einer CO2-Lenkungsabgabe auf Treibstoffe
- Instrumente für eine wirksame und effiziente Klima- und Energiepolitik
- Biodiversity, a guarantee of health?
- Open Science in Switzerland: Opportunities and Challenges
- Nationale Bedeutung naturwissenschaftlicher Sammlungen der Schweiz
- Governance of regional development
- Reverse emissions or influence solar radiation: Is “geoengineering” worthwhile, feasible and if so, at what price?
- Wildlife and humans in outdoor recreational areas near cities
- New approaches for protecting potatoes against late blight
- Wasser in der Schweiz
- Spotlight on climate in Switzerland
- Outdoor Sports Infrastructure Planning – Hiking and Mountain Biking
- Ozon und Sommersmog: Klimawandel gefährdet heutige Erfolge
- Factsheet «New plant breeding techniques for Swiss agriculture – significant potential, uncertain future»
- Energiestrategie und Gesundheit: Was bei der Umsetzung der Energiestrategie zu beachten ist
- Making the Commodity Sector Work for Developing Countries - Local Impacts, Global Links, and Knowledge Gaps
- Switzerland and the Commodities Trade - Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
- Health and global change in an interconnected world - Concerns and responsibilities for Switzerland
- Energiepolitik und Klimaschutz mit Luftreinhaltung verbinden
- A Focus on fracking
- Added value from tourism in Swiss parks
- Bienen und andere Bestäuber: Bedeutung für Landwirtschaft und Biodiversität (2014)
- Genetically modified crops and their importance for Swiss agriculture
- Environmental changes and migration in developing countries
- Die Verbuschung des Alpenraums durch die Grünerle
- Food security for a planet under pressure – and the challenges for Switzerland
- Mountains, a priority for a planet under pressure and for Switzerland
- Water security for a planet under pressure – and the consequences for Switzerland
- Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen auf globaler Ebene und in der Schweiz (2012)
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