Enhance Biodiversity and Sustainability in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity, including through a substantial increase of the application of biodiversity-friendly practices, such as sustainable intensification, agroecological and other innovative approaches, contributing to the resilience and long-term efficiency and productivity of these production systems, and to food security, conserving and restoring biodiversity and maintaining nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services.
8 Billion Hungry People
Biodiversity is a winner. We beat it down, but it keeps on going. It’s not surprising. Life has adapted to all kinds of conditions since it first occurred some 3.5 billion years ago. Consider that number: 3.5 billion, almost impossible to grasp. If you would add a grain of sand to a bathtub for each of those years, you would have four full tubs today… In other words: nature is old and patient, life has had plenty of time to experiment and adjust.
The biodiversity around us today is far younger. It was in full bloom around 40 million years ago – also a fairly long time. It took 39.700.000 years for us to arrive and then we took some 290.000 years to figure out agriculture.
In the 10-12,000 years since we did, our skills at harvesting food have accelerated year by year. The same is true for fishing. In addition, we have learned to farm fish. We’re very hungry. Almost all resource extraction has been industrialized. It goes for raw materials too, take wood. It’s essential to us so we have become great at cutting down trees.
But here’s the thing: there are limits to how big a wrecking ball we can swing. We have became greedy — we act as if the resources were endless. But they are not. Yes, all resources regrow, but it takes time. Nature is generous, but all generosity comes with a condition: it has to be respected and appreciated. Everything has a breaking point.
Which brings us to Target 10: Enhance Biodiversity and Sustainability in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Forestry.
We should definitely use biodiversity to our advantage, we just need to do it smarter. It’s high time to prove that we are as smart as we think we are. Depleting our resources is just plain dumb. Nature needs some time. Take care of it. Don’t poison it. Be kind to biodiversity, it is giving us our lives. If we just let it, that is.