Biodiversity, Agriculture, and Markets
Paul J. Ferraro
Department of
Economics,
Actions that protect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
can also enhance human welfare. In this presentation, the relationship
(positive and negative) between biodiversity and agriculture are highlighted. I
briefly cover the value of biodiverse germplasm in
maintaining and enhancing global agricultural production. I also discuss the
role that wild and semi-domesticated species play as safety-nets in the lives
of the rural poor. I then turn to lesser known (and understood) values of
biodiversity in providing ecosystem processes, ecosystem services, and
biological insurance. In particular, I focus on the role that biodiversity
plays in providing pollination services that affect the level and variability
of agricultural yields. I also discuss the costs and benefits that biodiversity
provides in encouraging and mitigating the actions of agricultural pests, and
in providing hydrological services that are critical for agricultural
production and related rural activities.
Unfortunately, many of biodiversity's benefits to agriculture are public goods.
Even in cases in which they are private goods, their supply often hinges upon
collective actions by farmers across a landscape. My presentation thus closes
by discussing mechanisms for protecting biodiversity in agricultural
landscapes, with a particular emphasis on payments for environmental services. These
payments not only help to supply ecosystem services, but they can also
diversify sources of income for rural populations and, in some circumstances,
benefit the rural poor.