Description
Scitus Academics Agrobiodiversity Conservation-Scitus by João Carlos da Silva Dias, Diwakar Poudel
Biodiversity is at risk everywhere; overexploitation and economic greed threaten its sustainable use by humankind, so putting the basic resources needed for the survival of future generations at risk. Agricultural biodiversity includes all components of biological diversity of relevance to food and agriculture, and all components of biological diversity that constitute the agricultural ecosystems: the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, which are necessary to sustain key functions of the agro-ecosystem. Biological diversity provides an energetic platform for different agricultural practices and advancements in plant and animal breeding. These in turn are dependent on in-depth research into biodiversity and its environmental context.
This book “Agrobiodiversity Conservation” presents state of the art of current developments in the economics of agrobiodiversity and focuses its attention on the role agrobiodiversity can have for economic development. This looks into the role of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security in the face of climate change. The decline in genetic diversity has affected agricultural crops, forestry plants, livestock, fish, microorganisms and other small life forms, albeit to differing degrees. It comprehends the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms which are necessary to sustain key functions of the agro-ecosystem, its structure and processes for, and in support of, food production and food security. It identifies agrobiodiversity as a key public good that delivers necessary services for human wellbeing. It demonstrates that the public values provided by agrobiodiversity conservation need to be demonstrated and captured; provides an economic perspective of this challenge and highlight ways of capturing at least a subset of the public values of agrobiodiversity to help adapt to and reduce the vulnerability of subsistence based economies to climate change.