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Ambio 2017, 46:417DOI 10.1007/s13280-016-0793-6
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s13280-016-0793-6&domain=pdf
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Sustainable intensication of agriculture for human prosperity and global sustainability
Johan Rockstrm, John Williams, Gretchen Daily, Andrew Noble, Nathanial Matthews, Line Gordon, Hanna Wetterstrand, Fabrice DeClerck, Mihir Shah, Pasquale Steduto, Charlotte de Fraiture, Nuhu Hatibu, Olcay Unver, Jeremy Bird, Lindiwe Sibanda, Jimmy Smith
Received: 13 October 2015 / Revised: 6 March 2016 / Accepted: 13 May 2016 / Published online: 12 July 2016
Abstract There is an ongoing debate on what constitutes sustainable intensication of agriculture (SIA). In this paper, we propose that a paradigm for sustainable intensication can be dened and translated into an operational framework for agricultural development. We argue that this paradigm must now be denedat all scalesin the context of rapidly rising global environmental changes in the Anthropocene, while focusing on eradicating poverty and hunger and contributing to human wellbeing. The criteria and approach we propose, for a paradigm shift towards sustainable intensication of agriculture, integrates the dual and interdependent goals of using sustainable practices to meet rising human needs while contributing to resilience and sustainability of landscapes, the biosphere, and the Earth system. Both of these, in turn, are required to sustain the future viability of agriculture. This paradigm shift aims at repositioning world agriculture from its current role as the worlds single largest driver of global environmental change, to becoming a key contributor of a global transition to a sustainable world within a safe operating space on Earth.
Keywords Agriculture development Anthropocene
Global sustainability Livelihoods Resilience
Sustainable intensication
INTRODUCTION
A global food revolution based on a new paradigm for agricultural development is urgently required. Without this shift, we are unlikely to attain the twin objectives of feeding humanity and living within boundaries of biophysical processes that dene the safe operating space of a stable and resilient Earth system (Steffen et al. 2015b). Global sustainability is increasingly understood as a prerequisite to
attain human development (UN GSP 2012) at all scales, from local farming communities to cities, nations, and the world (Folke et al. 2005). The reason is that we have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, where human pressures are causing rising global environmental risks and for the rst time constitute the largest driver...