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.
Swiss Academies Factsheets à la biodiversité
- Pestizide: Auswirkungen auf Umwelt, Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen
- Achieving the SDGs with Biodiversity
- Apports excessifs d’azote et de phosphore nuisent à la biodiversité, aux forêts et aux eaux
- Biodiversity damaging subsidies in Switzerland
- Gene Drive: vantaggi, rischi e possibili applicazioni
- Variety is the source of life
- Biodiversity, a guarantee of health?
- Disparition des insectes en Suisse et conséquences éventuelles pour la société et l’économie
- Abeilles et autres pollinisateurs: importance pour l'agriculture et la biodiversité (2014)
- Les Alpes envahies par l’aulne vert (2013)
- Biodiversité et services écosystémiques à l'échelle mondiale et en Suisse (2012)
Swiss Academies Factsheets
- Pestizide: Auswirkungen auf Umwelt, Biodiversität und Ökosystemleistungen
- Achieving the SDGs with Biodiversity
- Apports excessifs d’azote et de phosphore nuisent à la biodiversité, aux forêts et aux eaux
- Biodiversity damaging subsidies in Switzerland
- How can local populations be won over to protected areas?
- Gene Drive: vantaggi, rischi e possibili applicazioni
- Selezione vegetale – dall’incrocio classico all’editing genomico
- Small state, big companies
- Variety is the source of life
- Opportunités et conséquences d’une taxe d’incitation sur le CO2 prélevée sur les carburants
- Instruments pour une politique climatique et énergétique efficace
- Biodiversity, a guarantee of health?
- Open Science in Switzerland: Opportunities and Challenges
- L’importance nationale des collections suisses de sciences naturelles
- 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
- L'acqua in Svizzera
- Il clima svizzero sotto i riflettori
- Outdoor Sports Infrastructure Planning – Hiking and Mountain Biking
- Ozone et smog estival: les changements climatiques menacent les succès d’aujourd’hui
- Factsheet «New plant breeding techniques for Swiss agriculture – significant potential, uncertain future»
- Stratégie énergétique et santé – ce dont il faudra tenir compte pour la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie énergétique 2050
- 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
- Harmoniser la politique énergétique et la protection du climat avec la qualité de l'air
- A Focus on fracking
- Parchi svizzeri e il valore aggiunto del turismo
- Abeilles et autres pollinisateurs: importance pour l'agriculture et la biodiversité (2014)
- Le piante geneticamente modificate e il loro significato per l’agricoltura svizzera
- Environmental changes and migration in developing countries
- Les Alpes envahies par l’aulne vert (2013)
- 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
- Biodiversité et services écosystémiques à l'échelle mondiale et en Suisse (2012)