Natural Value Initiative

Agriculture & biodiversity

Biodiversity underpins the functioning of ecosystems allowing them to provide the services that enable business to operate.  Such services range from water cycling and purification to the regulation of the climate and soil formation, see the box below.

Source:Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, www.millenniumassessment.org/

Some facts:

• 60% of ecosystem services – including fresh water provision, climate  regulation and soil fertility - are being degraded or used up faster than they can be replenished

• The Food and Agriculture Organisation report that nearly 70% of the world’s fish stocks are now fully fished, over-fished, or depleted

• Overall, 35% of the global food production from plants benefits from animal pollination. The value of all this ranges from $112 billion to $200 billion annually. Bees are in decline globally, linked to escalating levels of pollution and loss of habitat. 

• Cultivated land now covers one quarter of the world’s land - this has resulted in loss or degradation of natural habitats such as forests and wetlands and as much as 2/3 of their associated ecosystem services

• Demand for food is projected to increase 70-80% by 2055, and a further 10-20% of grassland and forest are projected to be converted to agriculture between 2000 and 2050.  Use of water for agriculture is expected to double by 2050.1

In the face of such unprecedented pressure, there is growing evidence that some ecosystems may respond in abrupt and unpredicted ways.  This degradation of ecosystem services clearly has implications for the long term viability of the businesses which depend upon them such as the food, beverage and tobacco industries.

1 Stockhom International Water Institute cited in Business for Social Responsibility, 2007. At the Crest of a Wave: a proactive approach to corporate water strategy.