Banking on Biodiversity: Ecological and Socio-Economic Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture

Posted by on September 1, 2006

[posted from Community Food Security listserv]

The Center for Tropical Ecology & Conservation
is pleased to announce its 4th annual symposium

“Banking on Biodiversity: The Ecological and Socio-Economic Dimensions of Sustainable Agriculture”

October 28th, 2006

Antioch New England Graduate School
Keene, New Hampshire

This symposium will bring together farmers, activists, educators and conservation biologists in an atmosphere of communication and strategy building. We will focus on ways in which agricultural systems can benefit both human and non-human ecological communities while remaining economically viable for farmers and ranchers.

As Earth’s ecosystems become rapidly degraded, we must look beyond protected areas as the sole means by which we conserve the planet’s biodiversity. Agricultural systems represent a huge percentage of the human-modified landscape throughout the world. In the past few decades a trend of intensive farming with vast monocultures and substantial chemical use has become the precedent.

Rapid human population growth and the need for increased food production are among the many drivers of this trend. Increasingly, however, politicians, scientists and the general public are developing an awareness of the ecologically and culturally destructive nature of such intensive agricultural practices. In response, new initiatives are forming which take on a more holistic approach to ranching and farming. This new trend, referred to broadly as “sustainable agriculture” could be utilized as a powerful tool for the protection of global biodiversity.

For more information, please contact
Christine_Armiger@antiochne.edu
call 1-800-553-8920 ext. 348, or visit us online at
http://www.centerfortropicalecology.org