Ecological Intensification: Bridging the Gap between Science and Practice

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ecological Intensification: Bridging the Gap between Science and Practice

AU - Kleijn, David

AU - Bommarco, Riccardo

AU - Fijen, Thijs P.M.

AU - Garibaldi, Lucas A.

AU - Potts, Simon G.

AU - van der Putten, Wim H.

N1 - 6672, TE; Data archiving: no data (review)

PY - 2019/2

Y1 - 2019/2

N2 - There is worldwide concern about the environmental costs of conventional intensification of agriculture. Growing evidence suggests that ecological intensification of mainstream farming can safeguard food production, with accompanying environmental benefits; however, the approach is rarely adopted by farmers. Our review of the evidence for replacing external inputs with ecosystem services shows that scientists tend to focus on processes (e.g., pollination) rather than outcomes (e.g., profits), and express benefits at spatio-temporal scales that are not always relevant to farmers. This results in mismatches in perceived benefits of ecological intensification between scientists and farmers, which hinders its uptake. We provide recommendations for overcoming these mismatches and highlight important additional factors driving uptake of nature-based management practices, such as social acceptability of farming.

AB - There is worldwide concern about the environmental costs of conventional intensification of agriculture. Growing evidence suggests that ecological intensification of mainstream farming can safeguard food production, with accompanying environmental benefits; however, the approach is rarely adopted by farmers. Our review of the evidence for replacing external inputs with ecosystem services shows that scientists tend to focus on processes (e.g., pollination) rather than outcomes (e.g., profits), and express benefits at spatio-temporal scales that are not always relevant to farmers. This results in mismatches in perceived benefits of ecological intensification between scientists and farmers, which hinders its uptake. We provide recommendations for overcoming these mismatches and highlight important additional factors driving uptake of nature-based management practices, such as social acceptability of farming.

KW - international

KW - biodiversity

KW - ecosystem services

KW - farmer behaviour

KW - agricultural production

KW - Plan_S-Compliant_NO

U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2018.11.002

DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2018.11.002

M3 - Article

SN - 0169-5347

VL - 34

SP - 154

EP - 166

JO - Trends in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Trends in Ecology and Evolution

IS - 2

ER -