Agrobiodiversity
Agrobiodiversity or biological diversity in agriculture is the biological diversity of the flora and fauna used or potentially usable for agriculture, forestry, fishing and nutrition . The term “genetic resources for food and agriculture” is also established; these also include forest plants and animals as well as fish and other aquatic animals.
In contrast to natural biological diversity, agrobiodiversity is defined as: “All components of biological diversity that are important for food and agriculture as well as the functioning of agro-ecosystems. This includes all cultivated forms of animals, plants and microorganisms as well as their related wild species. This also includes those elements of biological diversity that guarantee so-called ecological services in agro-ecosystems: the cycle of nutrients, the regulation of pests and diseases, pollination, the preservation of local wild animals and plants, the protection of water catchment areas, and protection against erosion and climate regulation as well as other things. "
meaning
The importance of agrobiodiversity lies in several areas: As the biological basis of any production of plant and animal products, agrobiodiversity is existential for mankind. In addition, it is of great economic importance worldwide. It is of great importance as a resource for breeding as well as for future uses and innovations. In addition, agrobiodiversity in times of climate change represents a strategy of adaptation to changing and unpredictable environmental conditions.
Bioversity International researches agrobiodiversity with regard to its benefits for poverty reduction.
rating
Agrobiodiversity as such is not traded on markets; therefore it has no market price. The exact determination of the production consequences of increased or decreased agrobiodiversity is often difficult. If the production sequences can be determined in this way, the value of the change in production can be calculated in monetary units using market prices. Valuation methods that work with market prices are also known as methods of revealed preferences . The value of agrobiodiversity for mankind is usually determined using the overall economic value .
Emergence
In contrast to natural biological diversity, the diversity of cultivated plants and livestock emerged under the influence of humans. With the beginning of agriculture around 10,000 years ago, humans began domesticated wild plants and animals, and later also fish. The millennia of interaction between cultivated plants , livestock, the most varied of local conditions and the influence of humans through selection and breeding resulted in a great diversity of species and races . According to estimates there are e.g. For example, there are around 100,000 types of rice worldwide. Most of the cultivated plants and animals of importance today were originally domesticated in other areas of the world than they are used today. Important domestication and diversity centers are the regions of the fertile crescent (Middle East), Central America, North-East America, the Andes region, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean area, the Vavilov centers named after the Russian botanist NI Wawilow .
Danger
The variety of actively used cultivated plant species, cultivars and livestock breeds decreased in the course of modernization of agriculture. The background to this is that agricultural and development policy in the 20th century was primarily committed to the goal of food security. The conservation of agrobiodiversity, on the other hand, has only gained more attention in recent years, increasingly in the area of in situ. The question of what degree of in-situ variety and race diversity is optimal for sustainable food security has not been scientifically clarified.
A common assumption is that the agrobiodiversity of crops was reduced mainly by the Green Revolution . However, this assumption could not be proven, among other things, because many factors would have played a role, but also because the connection between the variety spectrum and genetic diversity is not clear. In contrast, it could be shown that the variety diversity in situ in bread wheat has not decreased, while the genetic resistance to rust fungi has increased due to advances in plant breeding.
The main causes of danger to the diversity of the wild part of the flora and fauna are overexploitation , harmful environmental changes and the loss and fragmentation of habitats.
conservation
Preserving agrobiodiversity includes preserving habitats, species and intraspecific diversity. A distinction is made between two preservation options. The In-situ Conservation ( in situ = on the site) is to preserve the natural habitat. For wild plants these are z. B. Forests, with cultivated plants mostly courtyards and house gardens. In the latter case, one speaks of on-farm management. The Ex-situ Conservation is conservation (genetic resources) outside their natural habitats. It takes place v. a. in gene banks ( e.g. as seeds, tissue culture or cryopreserved), but also in botanical or zoological gardens.
For a long time, the main focus was on ex situ conservation. Since the Biodiversity Convention in 1992 in particular, on-farm management has been increasingly relied on because of its dynamic conservation and use in the sense of continued evolutionary processes.
The SAVE Foundation is focused on the conservation of rare crops and animal breeds in Europe. The World Trust Fund for Crop Diversity aims to maintain crop diversity .
International cooperation
The most important crops and livestock are used worldwide (e.g. wheat, maize and rice, as well as cattle, pigs, poultry, horses, sheep, goats, carp and tilapia ). As a result, there is a great international interdependence of states in the conservation, use and exchange of genetic resources. In the area of genetic resources for food and agriculture which plays Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization (Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture CGRFA) (FAO) a central role in the international negotiation process on conservation, sustainable use and access to these genetic Resources. In addition to conservation and use, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992 also requires fair compensation for the benefits resulting from the use of genetic resources. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture has been in force under the CBD since 2004 .
literature
- Series of publications of the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL): Biological diversity with agriculture and forestry. Applied science, issue 494, Landwirtschaftsverlag Münster-Hiltrup 2002.
- Jarvis, DI, Padoch, C., Cooper, HD: Managing biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems. Columbia University Press 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food : Glossary ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ↑ Sandra Blessin: Adapted Agriculture in Times of Climate Change , 2009 (PDF; 3.03 MB)
- ^ The Genetic Resources Policy Initiative: Newsletter, June 2007.
- ↑ International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
- ↑ a b David Wood, Jillian M. Lenne: The conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm: questioning the emerging paradigm In: Biodiversity and Conservation 6, pp. 109-129, 1997
- ↑ a b Smale, M. (1997): The green revolution and wheat genetic diversity: some unfounded assumptions. World Development.
- ↑ Brian Love, Dean Spaner: Agrobiodiversity: Its value, measurement, and conservation in the context of sustainable agriculture In: Journal Of Sustainable Agriculture, 31 (2), pp. 53-82, 2007
