Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Agriculture - Briefing Note 11

Conventional agriculture has been the major driving force of increased yields over the past decades and still makes up most agricultural production practices. However, this food production system and a significant amount of associated waste (approximately 30 percent of global production, according to FAO no date) has come at a cost, depleting or polluting bodies of water, replacing natural ecosystems, and eroding the rich ecosystem underlayer supporting microorganism biodiversity, the basis of soil fertility. To compensate, more ecosystems are continually converted to agricultural or grazing land.