Page 44 - FAO-IPCC Expert meeting on climate change

Adaptation and resilience in food and land-based ecosystems
More broadly, adaptation to the threats to pollination services posed by climate change requires a shift in crop management practices, from the farm level to the level of landscape. This implies the integration of ecological intensification (e.g. adding flower-rich field margins) to cropping and the strengthening of diverse farming systems (e.g. crop rotation, home gardening and agroforestry). Investment in the ecological infrastructure is also essential
(i.e. medium-size patches of natural areas within or around farms and linear elements that bind them together). The benefits of landscape diversity can be drawn from comparisons between organic and conventional agriculture, the former demonstrates a 50 percent increase in the abundance of bees and organic bee richness compared to the latter.
It is important to provide an appropriate habitat and feeding resources for bees to ensure there are enough to pollinate crops, as evidenced by the critical role played by wild pollinators in food production. Many bumble bee species in Europe and North America are either threatened or considered an endangered species. Nevertheless, best practices may not succeed in the absence of alternatives to chemical pesticides and the biological control methods that will either reduce reliance on chemicals or act as a substitute.
4.4 Initiatives in addressing land degradation
Land degradation is a major concern for many land-based ecosystems around the globe and the continued loss of soil functions is associated with a decline in net land productivity and hence, a threat to the future of food provision and security. During Rio +20 Conference, the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept was proposed by UNCCD as a response to rising concerns about net land degradation. LDN aims to give form to a common understanding to “sustain and improve the stock of land and natural capital and the associated flows of ecosystem services in order to support the future prosperity and security of human kind”. LDN promotes a dual-pronged approach of measures to avoid or reduce degradation of land, combined with measures to reverse past degradation.
The UNCCD Science Policy Interface (SPI) facilitated the LDN concept through a framework that seeks to understand the forces that affect land, assess the impacts and define responses to deliver land degradation neutrality by 2030, complementing Sustainable Development Goal 15.3. In terms of land ecosystem services, three indicators (land cover change, net primary productivity and soil organic carbon) were developed by the UNCCD-SPI to monitor LDN. Under this framework, LDN is considered achieved if the three indicators either improve or remain the same in 2030. In addition, site-specific indicators relevant to a particular location or country are included (e.g., presence of heavy metal contamination). Finally, given that some of the changes will take longer to occur (e.g. building soil carbon stock), process indicators have been introduced to measure actions taken.
There are several ways to reverse land degradation and the loss of ecosystem services, caused either by climate change or human-directed drivers. Sustainable land management can reduce or reverse land degradation, depending on the initial condition and intensity of practices. While some responses may be either technical or agronomic (i.e. agroforestry, integrated water and soil and nutrient management), others will require innovative economic instruments to mobilize the full force of markets in support of sensible environmental services and to internalize the cost of resources that enter and leave the land-water-food-energy system. (See later discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of payments for environmental services in Section 5.1.) Forging sustainable land use policies will necessitate a convincing economic case for valuing land and providing appropriate economic value to ecosystem services besides food production. An appropriate economic valuation of land and ecosystem services will yield valid incentives for land users and the private sector actors that are essential to scale up successful interventions.
To the extent that sustainable land management is at the core of the LDN it also contributes to climate change adaptation. However, the literature linking LDN to adaptation is scant apart from specific cases such as the greening
of the Sahel in order to reverse its desertification and land degradation, which may be considered “climate-smart”. Given that there are substantial areas of rangeland being degraded as a result of intensive grazing, it indicates how essential is sustainable grazing management and support for scientific evidence to develop best practices and policies. South America, for example, is experimenting with the simple subdivision of large areas in an effort to control grazing and halt overgrazing or undergrazing. Results show that such practices can improve animal performance and raise soil carbon sequestration. CGIAR’s Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is also testing − through its network of Climate-Smart Villages programme − a range of grazing and livestock feeding options that combine forage sources, the grazing system and various animal breeds.
FAO-IPCC Expert meeting on climate change, land use and food security