Agriculture, environment and sustainability: Notions of sustainability

• to discuss the concept of sustainability

• to examine the notion of sustainable land use

• to outline the issues associated with managing for sustainable futures

Objectives of session

Module details are available on the module blackboard page

www.bb.rdg.ac.uk/

Supporting website designed within the Dept

Environmental Challenges in Farm Management

www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk

And advertising the Guidance for student Projects website

Providing support of dissertations

http//bio.ltsn.ac.uk/hosted/GSP

Write down the first three issues/problems/concerns when you think about or are confronted with the term “sustainable development”

Do not copy from your neighbour!!

Write each on a separate post-it!

Sustainable: a textbook definition

The word sustainable appears to originate from the French verb soutenir, meaning to hold up or support

What are we trying to sustain and how do we decide what to sustain?

Some systems are sustainable but undesirable

What temporal and spatial scales do we attach to sustainability?

Even if a system is deemed to be “sustainable” how do we manage it so that it continues to be so?

There is no consensus on the "definition of sustainability" but the underlying tenet of the Brundtland definition (WECD 1987) of sustainable development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" is representative of much of the thinking on sustainability and is taken as a basis for this module World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford University Press

…….a sustainable system is one that can evolve indefinitely toward greater human utility, greater efficiency of resource use and a balance with the environment which is favourable to humans and most other species

(Harwood 1989)

…….exploration into a tangled conceptual jungle where watchful eyes lurk at every bend

(O'Riordan 1985)

Some Definitions of sustainability….

Giampietro et al 1992 make the following comment with respect to some forms of land use:

"He/she [the land user] is acting like a truck driver who is short of cash and sells pieces of his truck to improve his income but who will soon no longer make a living out of being a trucker of goods"

Doing things today in a manner which we/I believe will preserve the options available for future generations…JP’s working definition based roughly on Brundtland definition

Ask the person next to you if they purposely do (or don’t do) anything in life because they feel it contributes (in however smaller way) to sustainability. No more than three things.

All JP can think of….

1. Whenever possible I take the train on business

2. Just started to dig up some of lawn to produce food

3. Our family has just one economical car

4. Try to recycle although may not be economically sustainable

5. Generally try to be energy conserving

A BRIEF HISTORY IMPACTING ON THE SUSTAINABILITY (LAND) DEBATE

• Early 1900's some people were already questioning what was termed "industrial agriculture"

• Concerns in America about soil degradation: The Dust Bowl of the 1930's in the American plains

• 1950's, 1960's a period of rapid mechanisation and increase in productivity

• 1960's worries about chemicals, The book "Silent Spring" seen by many as the work of a crackpot

• The green revolution increasing output of mainly rice and wheat in Asia

• 1970's Oil crisis in developed world

• 1970's Forrester and Meadows "World Dynamics Model" predicted difficulties ahead

• The Brant Commission The North South Divide (1978-79)

• 1980's Rapid expansion of developed economies, widening of the North South divide, The Bruntland Commission,

• 1990's Rio Convention, Agenda 21, NFFO's, CAP reforms

• 2000/2001 Fuel blockades, FMD, rural crisis• Pop reaches 6bn

• 2002 Joburg, 2003 War with Iraq

Main pressures relating to the sustainability of land use today

• 1. The projected growth in world population and demand for food, fuel and fibre

• 2. The impact of agriculture on soils, water and air (erosion, degradation, pollution)

• 3. Continued increase in use of non renewable resources in production, (fossil fuels, phosphate, potash)

• 4. Social and cultural aspects of agricultural change (depopulation, loss of landscape and amenity)

• 5. Depletion of biodiversity (monocropping, loss of habitats, widespread use of pesticides)

• 6. The impact of climatic change on agriculture and vicevera

• 7. Global markets, falling commodity prices and changes in support mechanisms

So what can we say about the concept of sustainability in practical terms?

• Popular:- few people would openly advocate a concept of unsustainability

• Involves thinking about the future:- i.e. it has temporal characteristics

• Systems interactions make planning in a sustainable manner difficult

• Need to deliver strategies for assessing the (degree of) sustainability of a system

In groups of four put your post-its from earlier up on the wall (thus you should have 12). Come to a consensus about the importance of each and arrange in a triangle with the most important at the top!

Increasing

importance

For your top post-it discuss the following:

How does it relate to sustainability

What is/are government(s) doing to encourage sustainable development?

What more do we think the government should do to enhance sustainable development?

For next time please read:

Bjorn Lomborg paper “the truth about the environment”

Papers relating to the Joburg summit

Make short notes from the ECIFM website

www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk

Subject 5

Agricultural threats,Climate change and agriculture, Change in habitats, Change in species