Agriculture and land management
Much of our biodiversity in the South East is dependent on farming and land management practices and so agriculture has great potential to make a positive impact on biodiversity. Biodiversity, and the ecosystem services it supports, are crucial for successful agriculture. Agriculture relies on biodiversity for: pollination; the creation of genetically diverse plant and crop varieties; development of robust, insect or disease-resistant strains; crop protection; and watershed control.
A significant amount of the world's wild biodiversity is found in or around agricultural landscapes. Historically, agriculture led to the creation of new plant and seed strains, attracted diverse animal species and fashioned fresh habitats for biodiversity.
The last 150 years have witnessed large-scale conversion of land to make way for agricultural and other activities to address demand from the growing world population. Land-use change has both positive and negative impacts. Biodiversity can benefit from agriculture - making land productive often helps to attract greater biodiversity, while conversion of land for agro-forestry also encourages greater levels of biodiversity.
By that same token, negatives can become positives, land that was once considered unproductive because it lacked the necessary nutrients for crop production, often supports a high number of species; this is now widely acknowledged as very important. But deforestation, for example, to make way for agricultural activities has been a significant driver of biodiversity and ecosystem loss.
The agricultural sector possesses a wealth of biodiversity-relevant knowledge and therefore has tremendous scope for the effective management of ecosystems and biodiversity resources. The Government presently pays farmers to farm and landowners to manage land in a way that is beneficial for wildlife. However, this can not carry on for ever and if our wildlife is to survive we must find methods of economically viable farming that support wildlife. One way of doing this may be to value the wider benefits provided by the wildlife.
See the Defra report 'An introductory guide to valuing ecosystem services' for more information.
In the South East ....
The landscape and biodiversity of the South East have undergone dramatic changes over the centuries in order to support the expanding population and to meet our desire for increased yields and lower prices. Initially, woodland was cleared for the conversion of land to agriculture, followed by the enclosure of this agricultural land to create hedged field patterns. Traditional farming practises supported wildlife. In fact, much of the region's rich wildlife exists because of farming and land management.
Change accelerated in the 19th century as the Industrial Revolution led to the exploitation of resources and the expansion of urban areas. While in the 20th Century, agricultural intensification saw the extensive drainage of wetlands, the ploughing up of flower-rich grasslands for arable crops, hedgerows being removed to maximise efficiency and agro-chemicals - pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilisers - being applied to the land. The drive for self-sufficiency in timber supply also resulted in the conversion of many ancient woodlands to conifer plantations and trees were planted on heathland and other marginal land less suitable for agriculture, but important for wildlife. This intensification has led to a dramatic decline in our wildlife.
Today, agriculture covers approximately 62% of the region but there are now only fragmented pockets of wildlife-rich habitat supporting genetically isolated species and the use of agro-chemicals has reduced food supplies for wildlife and affected the water quality of rivers and wetlands.
However, with the increasing awareness of the support biodiversity provides agriculture and many aspects of our health and well being new methods of land management that supports food production and wildlife are being explored.