Ecosystems and Well-being

Ecosystem Functions and Management: Theory and Practice Healthy and functioning ecosystems are necessary for the survival of human beings as they provide life supporting goods and services. These goods and services are often called as ecosystem services. As well as underpinning life on Earth, they provide major inputs to many sectors of the economy, and support our lifestyles. They include such processes as biological control of pests, weeds and diseases, pollination of crops, amelioration of flooding and wind erosion, provision of food (including fisheries), the hydro-geochemical cycle, capture of carbon dioxide by plants and carbon by soil, maintaining tourism revenues etc. Their value been demonstrated to be worth US$ 33,000 billion each year – more than three times that of the world’s largest economy (USA), and equal to global GDP in the year 2000. In other words, mankind cannot survive without healthy and functioning ecosystems. However, ecosystems and thei...

Current agricultural production systems have been calibrated to maximise return on investment, and utilises large amounts of inputs in terms of agrochemicals and energy. However, such production systems often ignore, (i) the contribution of ecosystem functions and services to the production systems, (ii) social aspects of farming, and (iii) the impact of intensive practices on public and environmental health. Thus these systems are increasing financial capital at the expense of both social and natural capital. Moreover, current economic and policy environment also supports such systems by subsidising agriculture with the costs to public and environment health. At the same time, these systems can appear to be more profitable than some of the sustainable alternatives due to their unrecognised and unaccounted costs associated with the above-mentioned damage that they are not being charged for.  Therefore, there is need to recalibrate current agricultural systems by un...

How do we measure the true costs of food production? by  Sustainable Food Trust  on  3 June, 2016  in  Business and Food ,  Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cphtn5j8dA How do we measure the true costs of food and put a price on the positive and negative impacts that food production has on the environment, society and public health? This session examines different frameworks and methods for quantifying and monetising these costs and looks at how these can influence farmers, policymakers and investors. There is a strong consensus that working towards a common framework for assessing sustainability will be critically important in undertaking meaningful comparisons between the sustainability of different food and farming systems. Chaired by Alexander Müller, Study Leader, TEEBAgFood, the speakers in this session present their different approaches and findings and explain how governments, companies and researchers are tackling the chall...

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hidden-costs-of-american-food-revealed-300254196.html The hidden cost of seemingly cheap food production is damaging the planet, driving human disease and jeopardizing food workers exposed to toxins every day. Experts who gathered at the  True Cost of American Food  conference in San Francisco this past weekend said for every dollar American consumers pay for food, the country is spending up to two dollars to fight diseases linked to poor food production, worker abuse and environmental harms. "The bill consumers pay at the grocery checkout does not reflect the true cost Americans are actually paying for food," said Patrick Holden, chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust. "We have to recognize this before we can do a better job growing our food, educating society to make informed decisions and incentivizing farmers and sustainable practices – and thereby save both lives and money." One promising soluti...

Our research on impacts of climate change in agriculture featuring Goyder's line and farming at the margins of good earth - a documentary filmed by the Vietnam TV. It examines climatic variability and the significance of the Goyder's line drawn in 1865 to establish areas which receive good rainfall to support cereal cultivation from the pastoral country, north of Adelaide.

To bridge the science-policy interface across its member nations, United Nations agreed to assess global Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at its General Assembly in December 2010. This led to the formation of an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES; www.ipbes.net ) with secretariat in Bonn, Germany. IPBES is now conducting global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services similar to more widely recognised Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The assessment is about the benefits that Earth’s ecosystems provide to human beings. These benefits are widely known as ecosystem services that include pollination, nutrient cycling, freshwater supply, climate regulation and cultural and spiritual benefits. Currently scientists across the globe are working to produce assessment of pollinators and pollination services that they provide to global agriculture (see details on the web). Pollination assessment, as a first IPBES re...