Ensuring Food Security: An Ecosystems Approach

Andrew NobleCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and

Ecosystems September 2014

Contents

The challenges of ensuring food security An ecosystem based approach – selected

examples. Concluding remarks.

UNITING AGRICULTURE AND NATURE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

Challenges to the Food System

Challenges facing the global food system

Population growth and

demographic change

Rising average incomes

Resource competition and

scarcity

Challenges facing the global food system

Need to reduce GHG emissions

Environmental change

We need to change the way we do Agriculture that builds Resilience into our food systems

‘Water crisis’ is the third

highest global risk

..extreme weather, climate change and

biodiversity loss also very high

Global Risks Report 2014, World Economic Forum

Sustainable intensification through an ecosystems approach

The status quo: Ecosystems and natural capital are wholly owned subsidiaries of our agricultural production systems.

The paradigm shift: Agricultural production systems are a wholly owned subsidiary of the ecosystems and natural capital they are dependent upon.

What would sustainable intensification look like?

Maintain downstream flows and water quality

Minimal off-site movement of pollutants

Utilize natural infrastructure for water storage, flood prevention

Maintain habitat for pollinators and conserve biodiversity, forest cover and grasslands

Sequester carbon to improvesoils and mitigate climate change

Maximize energy efficiency, minimize water consumption, resource reuse.

….

UNITING AGRICULTURE AND NATURE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

Towards an Ecosystems Based Approach

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND RESILIENCE

Almost 30% of Bangladesh fish come from flood plains.

Building community based organizations to increase fish production using ecosystem based approaches.

Led to increases in catches and important livelihood benefits to landless farmers.

Improved rice production using less fertilizer and water.

Understand trade-offs and synergies, both short and long term, on how mixed use landscapes can be managed for their multi-functionality.

Managing floodplains for livelihoods in Bangladesh

Multiple use of reservoirs

Making use of the drawdown area in HP dams can have positive impacts on food production.

Constructed wetlands provides refuges for fish and other aquatic species

Draw Down Agriculture in Yali Falls Energy – Agriculture Nexus

Drawdown area of Yali reservoir is used by farmers to grow cassava, but:

- risk of flooding is high at the end of the crop season

- duration on land exposure is too short to achieve maximum yield with the commonly used variety (KM 94)

Trials in the area on new cassava variety KM98-7 with short crop duration produced positive results: • Increase yield and starch content

- 32 tons/ha vs 21 tons/ha- 26% starch vs 21% starch

• Increased net benefit over $350 USD/ha to $850 USD/ha

Resource Recovery and Reuse – opportunities from urbanization

Using solid waste from on site sanitation:• Closing the nutrient loop and associated energy savings

from fertilizers.• Can be converted to energy.• Saves considerable energy in the treatment of these

sludge.• Food security for the poor.

Introducing business models to turn waste into an asset

Solid waste and fecal sludge

composting in Asia and Africa

could save billions of US$ per

year, assuming a market for only

25% of the urban organic waste.

Not a new concept, but many

pilots not viable or sustainable

Business models for resource

recovery & reuse (RRR) target

private and public investors and

business schools.

Waste Water in peri-urban agriculture

Water Energy Nexus benefits:

Energy reduction in: Water treatment, chemical fertilizer production and transport.

Environmental benefits: Reduced pollution of water bodies, reduced nitrogen and phosphorous demand, reduced GHG emissions.

Improved food nutrition and security

REVITALIZING DEGRADED ECOSYSTEMSReduce land degradation and increase resilience of small scale farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa and other hot spots across the globe.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) for amelioration of salt-affected soils and income generation, Uzbekistan

2009 2010 2011 2012 20130

50010001500200025003000350040004500

Net profit from Licorice produc-tion

Natural conditions

Cultivated crop

Net i

ncom

e, U

SD/h

a

Salt-affected soils in Syr Darya, Uzbekistan, 2005

Growing licorice on abandoned salt-affected soils can: Ameliorate salt-affected soils Return them to productive use Improve fertility of soils Generate high income for poor farmers

Managing resource variability and competing uses

Assist decision makers to reconcile natural variability, competition among sectors and trade-offs, and the importance of equitably sharing these resources

Resolves water variability by accelerating surface–subsurface interactions

Process: Extract groundwater before monsoon Fill sub-surface storage using distributed

recharge mechanisms during the monsoon

Results: Increased water for dry season irrigation Reduced downstream flood impact Increased river flow in the dry season

Ganges Aquifer Management for Ecosystems Services (GAMES)

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Food security will be contingent on how we manage our natural resource – business as usual is not tenable – we need a paradigm shift.

Urbanization and rural migration offers an opportunity to implement an ecosystems approach.

There are no magic bullets or quick fixes to the challenges we face.

To achieve this will require greater perseverance, behavior change, hard decisions and political will.

Thank youLearn more at wle.cgiar.orgAgriculture and Ecosystems Blog: wle.cgiar.org/blogs