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Book (series)Working paperThe pollination services of forests
A review of forest and landscape interventions to enhance their cross-sectoral benefits
2020Also available in:
No results found.Most flowering plants, including wild species and many food crops, are pollinated by animals and are vital, therefore, for biological production and the maintenance of biodiversity. Pollinators benefit from diverse natural habitats for forage and nesting, especially when these are limited in plant production systems. Landscape and forest management practices can help ensure the continued availability of pollinators and thereby increase resilience and the productivity of forestry and agriculture. The extent of forests and other natural habitats in a landscape plays a role in determining the species composition of pollinators. Agricultural landscapes adjoining fragmented forests and natural areas benefit from pollinator services, and animal-pollinated crops therefore achieve higher fruit set. Forest management practices can have significant effects on pollinator abundance and diversity. They affect forest variables such as structure, species composition, soil dynamics, hydrology and light availability, all of which can affect pollinator species composition and diversity and plant–pollinator networks. Indigenous and local knowledge can contribute to the conservation of pollinators through traditional management practices. This working paper, which is aimed at forest practitioners, landscape planners and land-use decision-makers, reviews published literature on the impacts of forest and landscape management practices on pollinators. It also addresses the implications of climate change, collates 36 case studies, and makes recommendation on measures for maintaining pollinator diversity and abundance in forests and landscapes. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookPollination services for sustainable agriculture 2008
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No results found.Pollinators are essential for orchard, horticultural and forage production, as well as the production of seed for many root and fibre crops. Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide. Food security, food diversity, human nutrition and food prices all rely strongly on animal pollinators. The consequences of pollinator declines are likely to impact the production and costs of vitamin-rich crops like fruits and vegetables, leading to increasingly unbalanced diets and health problems. Maintaining and increasing yields in horticultural crops under agricultural development is critically important to health, nutrition, food security and better farm incomes for poor farmers. In the past, pollination has been provided by nature at no explicit cost to human communities. As farm fields have become larger, and the use of agricultural chemicals has increased, mounting evidence points to a p otentially serious decline in populations of pollinators under agricultural development. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookTowards sustainable crop pollination services
Measures at field, farm and landscape scales
2020Also available in:
No results found.As the discipline of pollination ecology moves from describing the extent of a pollinator crisis, to identifying what can be done about it, there is a need to share and highlight very practical measures that will support sustainable crop biotic pollination services. Identifying these practices will require a mix of farmer and natural historian knowledge and scientific research. In this publication, we will outline the practices that have been so far identified, and what experiences may contribute to sharing the effectiveness of these measures under different circumstances.
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Book (stand-alone)High-profileState of knowledge of soil biodiversity - Status, challenges and potentialities
Report 2020
2020Also available in:
No results found.There is increasing attention to the importance of biodiversity for food security and nutrition, especially above-ground biodiversity such as plants and animals. However, less attention is being paid to the biodiversity beneath our feet, soil biodiversity, which drives many processes that produce food or purify soil and water. This report is the result of an inclusive process involving more than 300 scientists from around the world under the auspices of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and its Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, and the European Commission. It presents concisely the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity, the threats to it, and the solutions that soil biodiversity can provide to problems in different fields. It also represents a valuable contribution to raising awareness of the importance of soil biodiversity and highlighting its role in finding solutions to today's global threats. -
Book (stand-alone)High-profileStatus of the World's Soil Resources: Main Report 2015
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No results found.The SWSR is a reference document on the status of global soil resources that provides regional assessments of soil change. The information is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, complemented with expert knowledge and project outputs. It provides a description and a ranking of ten major soil threats that endanger ecosystem functions, goods and services globally and in each region separately. Additionally, it describes direct and indirect pressures on soils and ways and means to combat s oil degradation. The report contains a Synthesis report for policy makers that summarizes its findings, conclusions and recommendations.The full report has been divided into sections and individual chapters for ease of downloading:
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BookletCorporate general interestOrganic foods – Are they safer?
Food safety technical toolkit for Asia and the Pacific
2021Also available in:
No results found.Organic agriculture is increasingly under the spotlight for being a promising approach to address the challenges raised by the increasing demographics and urbanization as well as climate change. In the eyes of consumers, this often translates into healthier, safer, tastier and more environmentally friendly foods. But the “organic” certification actually indicates products that are produced in accordance with certain standards throughout the production, handling, processing and marketing stages, and which aim at a different set of benefits: better incomes for small-scale farmers and increased food security, environmental benefits such as improved soil and water quality and biodiversity preservation, and improved animal welfare. Therefore, while organic agriculture may relate to a set of different improved practices, the term organic in and of itself is not a guarantee of food safety. Finally, organic agriculture can be considered as part of the broader approach of agroecology, where ecological concepts and principles are applied in order to optimize interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment, and consideration is given to social aspects that need to be considered for a sustainable and fair food system.