Impact of Agricultural Practices On Ecosystem Services

Impact of agricultural practices on ecosystem services
MOOLA RAM Ph.D. SCHOLAR DIVISION OF AGRONOMY INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEW DELHI-110012, Email- [email protected]
Community of living organisms Interaction Flow of energy Components biotic and abiotic
What are ecosystem services?

Processes
by which the environment produces resources Transformation of a set of natural assets (soil, plants and animals, air and water) into things that we value.
To understand Ecosystem Services
Provisioning
Goods produced or provided by ecosystems
food fresh water fuel wood fiber biochemicals genetic resources
Regulating
Benefits obtained from regulation of ecosystem processes
climate regulation disease regulation flood regulation detoxification
Cultural
Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems
spiritual recreational aesthetic inspirational educational communal symbolic
Supporting
Services necessary for production of other ecosystem services
Soil formation Nutrient cycling Primary production
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MEA, 2005
Priority ecosystem services and agriculture Freshwater. Agriculture highly depends upon this ecosystem service for watering cropson rain-fed and irrigated farmsand for generating electricity to run some irrigation systems. At the same time, farmers can impact freshwater quantity (through irrigation) and quality (through fertilizer and agrochemical runoff). Water regulation. Farmers are dependent on the role that wetlands and other ecosystems play in managing the timing and magnitude of water runoff during the monsoon season and in recharging aquifers. Erosion regulation. Farmers depend on vegetation to retain topsoil. Poor agricultural practices are having some localized negative effects, but other practices such as living fences and minimum tillage are improving erosion control.
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Pest regulation. Farmers rely on some native organisms to help control crop pests in integrated crop management systems. But farming practices such as growing monocultures, fragmenting natural habitats, and inappropriately using agrochemicals are eroding natures ability to manage pests. Pollination. Many crops benefit from pollination by bees and other animals, although a substitute practicepollination by human handis used especially for plant breeding. Agriculture has a negative impact on natural pollination due to conversion of pollinator habitat. Nutrient cycling. Crops depend on natures processing of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, but synthetic substitutes exist. Poor farming practices sometimes inhibit this natural process, requiring more man-made inputs to replace lost nutrients.
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Agricultural trends over the past 40 years.
Tilman et al, 2002

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Sonak, 2004
Sonak, 2004
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Changes from agriculture that affect and are affected by several ecosystem services
Agent of change Land cover Erosion Chemical use Ecological services Production services -Food and materials for human consumption - Energy Regulation services -Water quality and quantity -Soil quality -Air quality -Pollination -Seed dispersal -Biodiversity -Pest mitigation -Protection from disturbances Habitat services -habitat
Dale and Polasky, 2007
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Impacts of Agriculture on ecosystem services
Knudsen et al, 2005
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Anthropogenic activities affecting C emission from the terrestrial to the atmospheric pool.
Lal, 2004
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Impact of Shifting cultivation on ecology

Clear forest vegetation (Dec-Jan) Burning of vegetation (Feb-March) Dibbling (April-May) Few years cultivation Shifting Returning back
Recovery of soil fertility and Nutrient conservation Barren hills
Ranjan and Upadhyay, 1999
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Loss in forest cover in north-eastern states (sq Km)

States Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Tripura Total 1993-95 169 224 65 218 792 58 1526 1995-97 75 257 603 75 292 573 1875
2.7 million ha of land has already been affected Each year 0.45 ha of land fall under shifting cultivation in northeastern India Jhum cycle has been reduced from 20-30 years to 2-3 years Ranjan and Upadhyay, 1999
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Impacts of intensive agricultural practices on ecosystem services

60% of geographical area faces soil degradation, water logging, salinity and alkalinity- threatens food security Water table decline in the range of 3-10 m The use of agro-chemicals in Haryana is the highest in India Fertilizer consumption increased from 3 to 30 kg/ha in the last 30 years. Rice-wheat CS (5.8 lakh ha)- N, P, Zn Residue burning-C emission Singh, 2000
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Contemporary Geography of Non-sustainable Withdrawals for Irrigation.
The following divisions are based on calculated consumptive use by crops : High overdraft: 1 km3/yr; Moderate: 0.1 1 km3/yr; Low: 00.1 km3/yr. The map indicates where there is insufficient fresh water to fully satisfy irrigated crop demands. The imbalance in long-term water budgets necessitates diversion of surface water or the tapping of groundwater resources. The areas shown with moderate to-high levels of non-sustainable use occur over each continent and are known to be areas of aquifer mining and/or major water transfer schemes. (MEA, 2005)
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Agriculture and air quality
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Net Change in Forest Area by Continent (in million hectares per year) FRA, 2000
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Contrast between Contemporary and Preindustrial Loadings of Easily Transported Nitrogen onto Land Mass of Earth and Geography of Relative Increases in Riverborne Nitrogen Fluxes Resulting from Anthropogenic Acceleration of Cycle.
MEA Report, 2005

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Balance Sheet Ecosystems Services
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ISSUE: The capacity of many ecosystems to provide certain services has

been declining
Ecosystem Type
Key
Condition of Ecosystem
Services
Food-Fiber Production
Excellent Good
Water Quality
Fair Poor
Water Quantity
Bad Not Assessed
Biodiversity
Changing Capacity
Decreasing Increasing Mixed
Carbon Storage
*Source: Pilot Assessment of Global Ecosystems. WRI, 2000.
www.wri.org/
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BEST PRACTICES
1.
2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
Promoting a diversified farm landscape, including crop rotations and intercropping within the fields, but also diversification on the edges and outside of the farm, for example, in crop-field boundaries with windbreaks, shelterbelts, and living fences, which can improve habitat for wildlife and beneficial insects, provide sources of wood, organic matter, resources for pollinating bees, and in addition, modify wind speed and the microclimate. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) i.e. the judicious use of both organic and inorganic sources of nutrients rather than either alone; The use of conservation tillage rather than continuous deep ploughing; Using nutrient recycling mechanisms through the use of crop rotations, crop/livestock mixed systems,agroforestry and intercropping systems based on legumes, and so forth. Reduce applications of pesticides Practice conservation agriculture
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Maintaining Balance
33 http://rs.resalliance.org/category/tools/millennium-ecosystem-assessment/
Conclusion

We all rely on Ecosystems Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting In meeting demands and raising production a significant number of the worlds ecosystems have been degraded To co-create a sustainable future, we need to devise adequate means to value our natural capital and human resources It is possible to do something about the ecological problem. This requires substantial changes in policy and practice and the conceptualization of a new paradigm in our agriculture for sustainable development The future depends on wise eco choices of today. The choices we make today in how we use land and water resources will have enormous consequences on the future sustainability of earths ecosystems and the services they provide
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References
Dale, V. H. and Polasky, S. (2007). Measures of the effects of agricultural practices on ecosystem services. Ecological economics 64:286-296 FRA (2000). Online at www.forestresources.org/ Knudsen, Marie Trydeman, Niels Halberg, Jrgen E. Olesen, John Byrne, Venkatesh Iyer and Noah Toly (2005) Global trends in agriculture and food systems. Online at www.agrsci.dk Lal, R. (2004). Agricultural activities and the global carbon cycle. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 70: 103116. MEA (2005). Online at http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx Ranjan, R. and Upadhyay, V.P. 1999. Ecological problems due to shifting cultivation. Current science 77(10) : 1246-1250. Singh, R.B. (2000). Environmental consequences of agricultural development: a case study from the green revolution state of Haryana, India. Agriculture, ecosystem and environment 82 : 97-103. Sonak, S. (2004). Global environment change: an overview. Accessed online at http://www.iedm.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/seminar/060421-001.pdf. Tilman, David, Kenneth G. Cassman, Pamela A. Matson, Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky (2002). Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418 : 671-677. WRI (2000). Online at www.wri.org/ http://earthtrends.wri.org 35 http://rs.resalliance.org/category/tools/millennium-ecosystem-assessment/
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Impact of agricultural practices on ecosystem services

What are ecosystem services?

To understand Ecosystem Services

Agricultural trends over the past 40 years.

Tilman et al, 2002

Impacts of Agriculture on ecosystem services

Knudsen et al, 2005

Impact of Shifting cultivation on ecology

Loss in forest cover in north-eastern states (sq Km)

Impacts of intensive agricultural practices on ecosystem services

Contemporary Geography of Non-sustainable Withdrawals for Irrigation.

Agriculture and air quality

MEA Report, 2005

Balance Sheet Ecosystems Services

ISSUE: The capacity of many ecosystems to provide certain services has

Bad Not Assessed

Decreasing Increasing Mixed

*Source: Pilot Assessment of Global Ecosystems. WRI, 2000.

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