Food and agricultural production account for a huge share of land use and land cover change on our planet, with a long, well-established legacy of detrimental effects on biological diversity.

And yet, although less diverse than corresponding “natural” systems, these working agricultural landscapes also can provide important habitat values and other ecosystem functions. Working landscapes in tropical and sub-tropical SE Asia and increasingly arid irrigated systems and cattle grazing systems in California, USA, provide practical points of reference in seeking a better balance between agricultural production and recovery of ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation.

Professor Tom Tomich, Founder of the Food Systems Lab & Distinguished Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy, and Professor Yadvinder Malhi, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Biodiversity and Society, will discuss, after Professor Tomich's presentation, the major practical and scientific challenges. These include embracing multi-functionality and needs to attain a just balance of local interests and national commitments, and associated implications for institutions, collaborations, and human resources necessary to shift our management paradigms.

This is a joint event with the ECI Food Systems Transformation Group