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Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us

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Title Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us
 
Creator Robinson, Lance W.
 
Contributor Ericksen, Polly
Chesterman, Sabrina
Worden, Jeffrey
 
Subject extensive systems
 
Description The challenge to increase food production is greater than ever,
as the world’s population is set to increase to a predicted nine billion
by 2050 (United Nations, 2008), requiring a 70 to 100% increase in
global food production (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009a;
World Bank, 2008). The primary solution promoted within the agricultural
development community is to intensify agricultural
production (Smith, 2012; The Royal Society, 2009; Tilman et al.,
2011). For instance, one of the guiding principles underlying the research
agenda of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development
Programme is that it should “reflect the urgency of achieving intensification
at rates in excess of population growth” (NEPAD, 2003,
72). The Framework for African Agricultural Productivity adopted
by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and endorsed by
the African Union similarly highlights the need for improvements
in productivity, particularly through agricultural research and adoption
of technological innovations, to keep pace with population
growth (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, 2006). Intensification
is also justified on environmental grounds in that it can result
in “land sparing” – increasing yields on farmed land in order to
reduce agricultural extensification and take the pressure off other
land which can remain protected for conservation (Garnett et al.,
2013; Shively and Pagiola, 2004).
However, it is also recognized that even when intensification
results in land-sparing it sometimes brings serious environmental
costs (Pretty, 2008; The Royal Society, 2009). In addition, despite
innovations and productivity increases in some areas, there is a continued
concern that large numbers of people, especially in sub-
Saharan Africa, are not benefiting from these advances, or perhaps
are paying social costs. As a result, a great deal of policy and research
are now directed toward sustainable intensification, which can
be described as “producing more outputs with more efficient use
of all inputs – on a durable basis – while reducing environmental
damage and building resilience, natural capital and the flow of environmental
services” (The Montpellier Panel, 2013, 13). Sustainable
intensification has been a central element in the strategy of both
the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009b) and the Consultative
Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR)
(Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research, 2013;
Independent Science and Partnership Council, 2013). As attempts
are made to operationalize the sustainable intensification paradigm,
research activities for characterization, establishment of
baselines, and assessing the sustainability of different intensification
options are underway.
 
Date 2016-09-20T11:16:18Z
2016-09-20T11:16:18Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X15000062?via%3Dihub
https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/downloadmelspace/hash/eiYUJfQK/v/ce3f3fbdd24133d8ffc191cff5abb014
Lance W. Robinson, Polly Ericksen, Sabrina Chesterman, Jeffrey Worden. (1/5/2015). Sustainable intensification in drylands: What resilience and vulnerability can tell us. Agricultural Systems, 135, pp. 133-140.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/4913
Open access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Elsevier Masson
 
Source Agricultural Systems;135,(2015) Pagination 133-140