Effects of agricultural practices on the provision of ecosystem services in agroecosystems: trade-offs and synergies
Abstract
Agriculture is the greatest driver of change in terrestrial ecosystems, mainly through change of land use (conversion to cropland) and application of new technologies enhancing provisioning services, mainly yields. The latest research shows that deforestration is for the first time not the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions and its position has been replaced by agriculture.
Even though it's mostly livestock that is responsible for this primacy, even crop production has its share. Baring in mind these two facts, there is a major challenge how to deal with increasing demand for food resulting from growing global population that is expected to reach 10 billion in the next 40 years.
More than ever before agricultural production needs to be conditioned by sustainable principles to allow not only availability of food but also other natural resources and ecosystem services for current and future generations.