The Diversity of Living Organisms: The Engine for Ecological Functioning

The diversity of living organisms has long been the mainstay of agricultural activity and its innovations. However, since the late nineteenth century, particularly in industrialized countries, increases in yields have been based on radically new technologies which deny the biological reality of agriculture and end up artificializing environments. This greatly intensified agriculture is primarily based on fossil fuels (mainly petroleum). It now finds itself at an impasse because of its impacts on ecosystems and the dramatic increase in the prices of inputs and energy. Social inequalities and massive rural exoduses that it has caused are further reasons for concern. Scientists, politicians and NGOs have striven, mainly over the last 20 years, to come up with alternative approaches for developing countries to overcome these energy, economic and environmental crises, and in order to ensure food security for the most vulnerable populations. There is now a widespread conviction that these countries must develop the capacity to ensure sustainable food security. The intensification of their production is therefore essential but has to be based on new approaches. Often grouped under the all-encompassing term ‘agroecology’, these new approaches rely on both the most modern advances in agricultural sciences and the traditional know-how of rural populations.