Biodiversity works!
The opportunity of biodiversity for farmers
2009-07-01 / John Van Duursen interviewed by Jasmijn Besorak / Amsterdam, NL
Smallholders often have a fine relation to biodiversity. Especially related to hunting, and intercropping on a well thought through way with other species. This can generate a multiple source of income. For example coco needs shade, the trees that take care of the shade can also be a source of fruits, carbon or people can make a medicine out of the bark. There are lots of benefits but you often need knowledge. Most of the time farmers are on the end of the information chain. They are not very well connected to this knowledge. Therefore this remains a big challenge.
John van Duursen (Conservation Company) is interviewed by Jasmijn Besorak (Progreso Network) about biodiversity and its relation to agricultural landscapes.
What is your background?
I studied international business and environmental management. Nowadays I work as a multiple or serial entrepreneur. I have been working on many business cases that feed into biodiversity. I look at things from a practical point of view and I have experience in a couple of sectors.
How would you define biodiversity in relation to agricultural landscapes?
Obviously each context is different. There’s no ‘one answer’ that fits all.
But if you look at mono crops, given that there are insecticides or pesticides, it will run for a couple of years. But that is not a sustainable land use practice. So after a while there will be hazards for health or/ and life around the plantation.
So not managing biodiversity will have long-term effects?
That depends on the crop. With cotton these effects affect their environment in a pretty short period. Coffee and cacao are less damaging crops by its nature. Smallholders often have a fine relation to biodiversity. Especially related to hunting, and intercropping on a well thought through way with other species. This can generate a multiple source of income. For example coco needs shade, the trees that take care of the shade can also be a source of fruits, carbon or people can make a medicine out of the bark. There are lots of benefits but you often need knowledge. Most of the time farmers are on the end of the information chain. They are not very well connected to this knowledge. Therefore this remains a big challenge.
How do you define the relations between ecosystem services, biodiversity and sustainable management of agriculture?
Most of the time there is a difference between geographical or time distance. For instance, in Kenya downstream flower growers pay upstream flower growers to go into more sustainable land use practices. It took a couple of years for people to realize the relation between the land use practices upstream and the water management etc for the growers downstream. Here you can see that there is an actual payment for ecosystem services through sustainable land use practices in order to manage the biodiversity of their environment. However cause and effect are not always so easy to identify and therefore it remains a complicated question. You should always take a look at issues like this from the perspective of more than one stakeholder.
Do you think that the incentive to go into sustainable land use methods should always be economical?
Although I wish it would be different, unfortunately yes. Often you need a hard economic driver.
Do you think that good entrepreneurship can contribute to mainstreaming of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes? If the answer is yes, could you name a best practice example of an entrepreneur that is working biodiversity?
The answer is of course yes! I will name two examples.
You have a couple entrepreneurs in Cameroon, Kenya and Mozambique that are in the honey business. To have a happy bee you need a rich biodiversity. Lots of farmers (apart from subsiding farming) go into setting up beehives. Research agencies and people that know how to produce quality honey are assisting them. This is working miraculously well. So the honey business became an extra source of income.
Many smallholders in Zambia and Mozambique are in conflict with Elephants. These Elephants are also part of the biodiversity of course. These elephants go into the crops and are being shot. Now there is an entrepreneur that found a solution. He discovered that planting peppers act as a natural buffer. Elephants hate peppers because of the smell and the touch of it. These peppers also grow very well into the African soil. Therefore it is a huge outgrew scheme. These smallholders make their own pepper sauces now, their own Tabasco. This way the cultivation of pepper solved the conflict.
John wishes the listener a lot of innovative and foreword thinking by stepping into some project that contribute to the management of biodiversity.