Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development

Abstract

Given the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, there is an urgent need to reduce the impact of food production on biodiversity. Ecological restoration of farmland could potentially contribute to this goal. While the positive impacts of ecological restoration on biodiversity are well established, less evidence is available regarding impacts on economic development and employment. Potentially, prospects for economic development could be enhanced by ecological restoration though increased provision of ecosystem services, on which some economic activity depends. Here we examined this issue through the development of contrasting land use scenarios for the county of Dorset, southern England. Two scenarios of future agricultural expansion were compared with two scenarios of landscape-scale ecological restoration and the current situation. Impacts on provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) were explored using InVEST models and proxy values for different land cover types. Impacts on economic employment were examined using an economic input-output model, which was adjusted for variation in ES flows using empirically determined ES dependency values for different economic sectors. Using the unadjusted input-output model, the scenarios had only a slight economic impact (≤ 0.3% Gross Value Added, GVA). Conversely, when the input-output model was adjusted to take account of ES flows, GVA increased by up to 5.4% in the restoration scenarios, whereas under the scenario with greatest agricultural expansion, GVA was reduced by -4.5%. Similarly, employment increased by up to 6.7% following restoration, compared to declines of up to -5.6% following maximum agricultural expansion. These results show that the economic contribution of rural land is far greater than that attributable to agricultural production alone. Landscape-scale restoration of agricultural land can potentially increase the contribution of farmland to economic development and employment, by increasing flows of multiple ES to the many economic sectors that depend on them.

Measurement of total factor productivity of green agriculture in China: Analysis of the regional differences based on China

“…With the development of economic globalization, the production mode with low efficiency and large monthly pollution will cause global waste of resources and environmental pollution [9,10], and it has important theoretical and practical value to improve the total factor productivity of green agriculture in a comprehensive way. Therefore, it is advisable to measure the total factor productivity of green agriculture [11].…”

Does agricultural intensification cause tipping points in ecosystem services?

“…To mitigate such losses, farmers might potentially apply progressively more fertilizer, but information on this behaviour is lacking. Positive feedbacks could also account for the rapid declines occurring in many elements of biodiversity associated with agricultural intensification, as a result of cascading extinctions and the consequent collapse of food webs (Newton 2021). Other possible tipping point mechanisms include possible feedbacks between pesticide uses and outcomes (Sponsler et al 2019), the over-saturation of soil nutrients leading to accelerated leaching to water courses, and the local extinction of Rhizobium bacteria as a result of sewage sludge applications (Haygarth and Ritz 2009).…”

“…We identified 18 industry sectors as having relatively strong links to the environment (Appendix 4). We then conducted an Economic Impact Analysis (EIA) of Dorset's economy for the period 1981-2015 using an 'Extended Input-Output Model' (Appendix 4; Newton et al 2021). An industrial breakdown back to 1970 was not possible because sector definitions have changed markedly over this period.…”

“…Tipping points can be considered as ecological thresholds that are driven by positive feedback loops, in accordance with dynamical systems theory (van Nes et al 2016). However, abrupt ecosystem changes can also be caused by rapid changes in the underlying drivers, or from an interaction between drivers, without a positive feedback mechanism (Andersen et al 2009;Newton 2021). There is a need to differentiate between these various possibilities, in order for appropriate management and policy responses to be developed (Watson et al 2018).…”

Rewilding and restoring nature in a changing world

“…Although restoration efforts centered around economic development in Africa, such as the Working for Water Project and eThekwini forest restoration project in South Africa have generated strong support from government, not many such initiatives exist in other parts of the world (Mugwedi et al [19]). In this collection, Newton et al [29] examine the impacts of restoration on economic development and employment. They conclude that landscape-scale restoration or rewilding of agricultural land can potentially increase the contribution of farmland to economic development and employment, by increasing flows of multiple ecosystem services to the many economic sectors that depend on them.…”