Biodiversity and agricultural sustainagility: from assessment to adaptive management

Abstract

Rapid changes in land use, food systems, and livelihoods require social-ecological systems that keep multiple options open and prepare for future unpredictability. Sustainagility refers to the properties and assets of a system that sustain the ability (agility) of agents to adapt and meet their needs in new ways. In contrast, sustainability tends to invoke persistence along current trajectories, and the resilience to return to current baselines. With three examples, the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity is explored along temporal, spatial, and human institutional scales for its role in sustainagility: first, farmers' seed systems; second, complex pollination systems; and third, wildlife conservation in agricultural areas with high poverty. Incentives are necessary if agrobiodiversity is to provide benefits to future generations.

Published in

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
2010, Volume: 2, number: 1-2, pages: 80-87
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Bengtsson, Jan

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG1 No poverty
SDG2 Zero hunger


UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.02.007

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60815