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soil productivity (Kang and Akinnifesi 2000), storing carbon as
well as providing habitats for wild pollinators (FAO 2011a).
The world’s fish stocks are also increasingly being overexploited.
In the mid-1970s, only 10 per cent of world fish stocks were
categorized as overexploited. Forty years later, about 30 per cent
of world fish stocks were defined as overexploited. Fully exploited
fish stocks have increased from 50 to 57 per cent from the 1970s
to 2009 (FAO 2012b). Overexploitation of fish stocks is not only
detrimental to individual species such as the North American cod,
tuna and sharkspecies (FAO2012b; Schmidt
et al.
2013), but it also
means that fish stocks are unable to replenish themselves and will
not reach their full production potential. It has been estimated that
in 2000, an additional 17 per cent of fish catch in low-income food
deficit nations could have been harvested had the fish stocks been
sustainably managed (Srinivasan
et al.
2010).
Ecosystem approaches to avert food loss
Through advances in technology conventional food production
has delivered increasing yields. However, these same advances
have also reduced the capacity of ecosystems to provide food
(FAO 2013a) as an overuse of fertilizers and other chemicals in
agriculture pollutes soil, water and air (FAO 2013a), and kills
insect pollinators vital for food production (Farooqui 2013;
Pettis
et al.
2013). Improved fishing technologies have caused
fishing vessels to catch fish at unsustainable rates resulting
in depletion of fish stocks and extinction of some fish species
(WWF 2012). While the rate of increase in overall food production
is falling, the human population and the demand for food
continue to increase (OECD and FAO 2013). It is increasingly
being recognized that conventional food production systems
are undermining the ecosystem services that food production
depends on, and in order to ensure future food security it is
necessary to implement management approaches that are less
damaging to the environment (Munang
et al.
2011).
Ecosystem approaches represent an alternative to conventional
food production. Ecosystem approaches are defined by the
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) as “a strategy for the
integrated management of land, water and living resources that
promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable
way. It is based on the application of appropriate scientific
methodologies focused on levels of biological organization,
which encompass the essential processes, functions and
interactions among organisms and their environment. It
recognizes that humans, with their cultural diversity, are an
integral component of ecosystems.”
Through ecosystem approaches humanity will not only reduce
its footprint on the environment, but also improve the Earth’s