Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

Rather than answering all questions separately, I refer to the upoloaded publication, which gives many examples of the kind you reuqest for.

Kind regards,

Lijbert Brussaard

Professor emeritus, Soil Biology

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen,

The Netherlands

Dear Members of the forum,

My group are working on restoration ecology, and my interest is in particular the microbial communities. In South Africa, only 12% of soils are suitable for crop production, and of that only 3% are considered fertile. Thus, we need to find ways in which crop production can be intensified on marginal soils. Conservation Agriculture had a significant impact on farming in South Africa, and many farmers changed their practices. Our research group are involved in studies on a number of aspects.

Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition.

From a number of studies we have seen that a reduction in the above ground diversity had a significant impact on the below ground diversity, resulting in a decrease in ecosystem function. One of the most important questions that we are currently investigating is the effect of farming practices on the microbial community diversity and function.

Measuring microbial diversity for research has in recent years become easier and more affordable, however, it is still difficult for the farmer and agricultural consultant to measure diversity and interpret the meaning against the backdrop of other soil health indications. To this effect we developed a fingerprint profile method to characterise soil diversity to be used in conjunction with other soil health indicators. This has shown to be effective in providing the agricultural community with a method to measure changes in biodiversity.

Our group has also developed a soil microbial consortium which has been successful in field trials. The microbial mix allow farmers to reduce chemical input, and the organisms are native to the region. This is particularly important in this region as much of our biodiversity are endemic and invasion is a real threat to our native biodiversity.

Good governance, enabling frameworks, and stewardship initiatives are needed to facilitate mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across agricultural sectors.

Currently, the government are working on draft legislation to promote CA in South Africa. There are also many champions, on national as well as regional scale who actively show and promote the value of these practices in enhancing diversity in the ecosystem. This has been very clear during the last drought, where CA farms showed more resilience, and maintained yields.

It is important for academia to foster relationships with farmers, industry and government to address the road forward.

Dear Sir, Madam,

Please find attached a contribution from the European Commission to the online discussion prior to next week's multi-stakeholder dialogue. Various colleagues in several Directorate-Generals of the Commission contributed to this submission.

I am looking forward to the dialogue!

Kind regards

Anne Theo

ANNE THEO SEINEN

Policy Officer

Comments and observations from the Development Law Service (LEGN), Legal Office, FAO

3) Good governance, enabling frameworks, and stewardship initiatives are needed to facilitate mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across agricultural sectors.

GENERAL COMMENTS

The thoughts and observations stated here are expressed from the perspective of those who work in FAO on development law i.e legislation, regulations etc, as enabling frameworks  for food and agriculture and natural resources (land, forestry, water, fisheries etc.) for access and use and related management. It is vital to underscore the importance of explicit reference to legislation or legal frameworks in the context of mainstreaming biodiversity because when the question is asked of what “biodiversity mainstreaming” means, the working definition often cited is the one set out below, which omits the term “legislation” and “legal frameworks”:

“Biodiversity mainstreaming is the process of embedding biodiversity considerations into policies, strategies and practices of key public and private actors that impact or rely on biodiversity, so that biodiversity is conserved, and sustainably used, both locally and globally.” (emphasis added)

It may be argued by some that specific reference to legislation or legal frameworks in the definition cited above is not necessary as the term “policy frameworks” is inclusive and covers legal frameworks. However, while carefully thought-out global analyses or guidance documents (e.g. STAP Advisory Document on mainstreaming biodiversity in practice (Huntley, B.J. and Redford, K.H., 2014)) underscore the need for legislation as an enabling mechanism for biodiversity mainstreaming, most discussion on and development of strategies and initiatives, including through programmes and  projects, only mention policy and rarely focus on legislation. An example of the lack of reference to law as a mechanism for mainstreaming biodiversity is observed in the text of the Voluntary Guidelines for Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Policies, Programmes and National and Regional Plans of Action on Nutrition (FAO 2016). Another written account of an initiative on biodiversity for food and agriculture[1] mentioned legislation once and referred to regulations five times.  If law or legislation is mentioned at all, it is normally done in the context of law being a complementary or as a secondary consideration.

LEGN believes that legislation or legal and regulatory frameworks are vital and are often core to efforts in mainstreaming biodiversity. Legal frameworks give legal force to policy in terms of creating legal obligations and enforceability of requirements.  Legislation can drive change in approach, planning, decision making, management and behavior. It can secure the participation of stakeholders including gender participation and the input of the often marginalized peoples.  Legislation can also establish appropriate institutions and mechanisms for these changes to occur. An important aspect of legislation is that it enables designated or interested parties to enforce the law or seek protection of or realization of rights that are accorded and violated.

Reviewing legal frameworks, enhancing existing laws and developing new legal frameworks must therefore be core of strategies or established programmes or projects for mainstreaming biodiversity or at least be a vital component of such programmes or projects.  Appropriate resources should be allocated for these as well as implementing related capacity building, information and further research activities to plug gaps in knowledge or the understanding of the role that law can play in mainstreaming biodiversity.  The need for legislation, in the context of mainstream biodiversity should “take center stage” rather than legislation being a secondary complement, a peripheral consideration or an after-thought - to be dealt with or pursued as an activity only if there is time or other resources are available.

• Do you have any examples of such enabling factors and initiatives or the lack of it? Examples could include Cross-sectoral land use planning; Macro-economic policy and public investment; Elimination, phasing out and reform of perverse incentives harmful to biodiversity; Product labelling and market certification schemes; Green finance and private investment or others

Currently, the main area of work of LEGN is in assisting Members of FAO (countries) at their request to review existing legal frameworks (i.e. identify gaps and legislative measures to address such gaps) or assisting countries in drafting legislation for food and agriculture and natural resources (e.g. forestry, land, fisheries) in the context of food and nutrition security. Most of the legislative review and drafting work is sector driven but biodiversity mainstreaming is embedded in drafts of these sectoral legislation as principles and management guidelines or as measures in operative provisions/texts. Examples of biodiversity mainstreaming can be seen in legislating for the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) or the implementation of the VGGT and the Small Scale Fisheries Guidelines or measures to reduce or report by catch or catches of non-target and associated species in fishing operations in fisheries legal frameworks. REDD+ principles and best practices being embedded in forestry legislation is another example of biodiversity mainstreaming. The work on reviewing and developing such legislation is done in a multidisciplinary manner and in a participatory approach.

What is lacking however is the programmes and projects that targets biodiversity (conservation and management) as the core subject to be realized across sectors with a focus on enhanced legal frameworks as the driver for change. A few countries (examples to be provided on request) have experimented in overarching or framework biodiversity or environment legislation but whether this approach could be studied as best practice and replicated are activities that would require a programme or project which commits adequate resources to undertake the activities.

• Which partners need to be involved in institutional frameworks, policies and processes for biodiversity mainstreaming to strengthen them?

As many interested stakeholders or their representatives as possible should be involved in the review and development of legal frameworks for biodiversity mainstreaming whether through a sectoral opr multi-sectoral programme.  After all, ensuring sound legislation is not only a matter of ensuring that its contents are comprehensive – it is also a matter of process – of ensuring that interested stakeholders and communities are consulted and contribute input into the drafting of legislation.  These ensures buy-in and ownership of the process and product but also legitimacy of the law.  This in turn might help in implementation and compliance with the law.

LEGN contacts:

Blaise Kuemlangan, Chief, LEGN

Valerie Johnston, Legal Officer, LEGN

I am a soil ecologist from Chinese Academy of Sciences and associated with the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative. In a 10-year experimental field, we found that long-term conservation tillage (no-tillage and ridge-tillage) can maintain more C in soil by having positive effects on soil microbial and nematode communities within different aggregate size fractions. Special functional groups of soil biota, such as AMF, and gram-positive bacteria cultivated in conservation tillage system can conserve more C in biomass and ultimately increase C stock. Our study indicated that different functional groups of soil organisms and their connections provide different pathways to C sequestration at the spatial dimension of soil physical structure under different tillage systems. The abundance and richness of most microflora and microfauna are positively influenced by the conservation tillage. The stability and trophic links of bacterial and predator–prey pathways were strengthened in no-tillage and ridge-tillage compared to conventional tillage. Our study suggests that a more functionally stable food web can be built through the bottom–up effects after 10 years of conservation tillage.

It is important and urgent to have biodiversity above and below ground. Overall in agricultural areas where the accumulation of pesticides are present, it’s important to take actions, in order to diminish the use of pesticides, and then to increase diversity. The food health depends on how health is the soil. A healthy soil is reach in different kind of organisms, soils under biological crops are so different so alive in comparison to those soils under the use of agrochemicals.... pesticides. We cannot close the eyes anymore, and think only in economic matters, it’s important to support those farmers who are willing to change into more healthy ways of production. It’s important to think really in the future generations, our actions determine their present and future.

A soil rich in soil species, it’s a soil rich in health.

1. Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition.

There are numerous examples of soil organisms playing crucial roles in regulating key soil functions that sustain crop growth. Some examples from our work include:

(a) Working in grasslands we have shown that management practices that enhance the abundance of fungi relative to bacteria in soil are associated with more efficient nutrient cycling and reduced nutrient loss from soil (Bardgett et al. 2003), especially following perturbations (e.g. dry/wet cycles) (Gordon et al. 2008; De Vries et al. 2012a).

(b) As part of a large pan-European study, we shown that intensive agriculture universally reduces soil food web diversity and the abundance of most functional groups, and that soil food web properties strongly and consistently predicted processes of carbon and nitrogen cycling across a wide range of contrasting geographic locations and land uses. Not only did this study provide the first quantification of relationships between soil food web complexity and ecosystem processes at larger spatial scales, but also it demonstrated the need to include soil food web parameters in biogeochemical models (De Vries et al. 2013).

(c) In a related study, we showed that reductions in soil food web complexity and diversity caused by intensive land use, especially a reduction in the ‘slow’ fungal relative to the ‘fast’ bacterial energy channel, strongly impairs their ability to resist and recover from extreme climatic events, in this case drought. This then causes increased loss of carbon and nitrogen from soil to the atmosphere and in drainage waters (De Vries et al. 2012b). These findings have implications for sustainable land management, because they provide evidence that extensive agricultural management can promote more resistant, and adaptable, fungal-based soil food webs, thereby contributing to ecosystem services such as soil nitrogen retention, which is of central importance to sustainable food production and pollution mitigation.

2. Where a (sustainable) production system played a key role for the conservation of the biodiversity surrounding it and where a(n) (unsustainable) production system played a key role for the degradation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

In a paper by De Vries and Bardgett (2012) we proposed various ways by which the he promotion of plant–microbial linkages in agricultural systems has the potential to enhance N retention and reduce N loss. Although trade‐offs with agricultural yield are inevitable, we suggest that promoting plant–microbial linkages will reap benefits in terms of plant crop resistance to climate change as well as to pests and diseases. As an example of declines in biodiversity associated with intensive management,

Tsiafouli et al. (2015) examined biodiversity in soil food webs from grasslands, extensive, and intensive rotations in four agricultural regions across Europe, and found that land‐use intensification reduced the complexity in the soil food webs, as well as the community‐weighted mean body mass of soil fauna. In all regions across Europe, species richness of earthworms, Collembolans, and oribatid mites was negatively affected by increased land‐use intensity. The taxonomic distinctness, which is a measure of taxonomic relatedness of species in a community that is independent of species richness, was also reduced by land‐use intensification. We concluded that intensive agriculture reduces soil biodiversity, making soil food webs less diverse and composed of smaller bodied organisms.

References

Bardgett, R.D., Streeter, T. and Bol, R. (2003) Soil microbes compete effectively with plants for organic nitrogen inputs to temperate grasslands. Ecology, 84, 1277-1287.

De Vries, F.T., E. Thébault, M. Liiri, K. Birkhofer, M.A. Tsiafouli, L. Bjørnlund, H. Bracht Jørgensen, M.V. Brady, S. Christensen, P.C. de Ruiter, T. d’Hertefeldt, J. Frouzk, K. Hedlund, L. Hemerik, W.H.G. Hol, S. Hotes, S.R. Mortimer, H. Setälä, S.P. Sgardelis, K. Uteseny, W.H. van der Putten, V. Wolters, and Bardgett, R.D. (2013). Soil food web properties explain ecosystem services across European land use systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110, 14296-14301.

De Vries, F., Bloem, J., Quirk, H., Stevens, C., Bol, R. and Bardgett, R.D. (2012a) Extensive management promotes plant and microbial nitrogen retention in temperate grassland. PLoS ONE, 7(12).

De Vries, F.T. and Bardgett, R.D. (2012) Plant-microbial linkages and ecosystem N retention: lessons for sustainable agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10, 425-432.

De Vries, F.T., Liiri. M., Bjørnlund, L., Bowker, M.A., Christensen, S., Setälä, H.M. and Bardgett, R.D. (2012) Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought. Nature Climate Change, 2, 276-280.

Gordon, H., Haygarth, P.M. and Bardgett, R.D. (2008) Drying and rewetting effects on soil microbial community composition and nutrient leaching. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 40, 302-311.

Tsiafouli, M., E. Thébault, S. Sgardelis, P. de Ruiter, W.H. van der Putten, K. Birkhofer, L. Hemerik, F.T. de Vries, R. D. Bardgett, M. Brady, L. Bjørnlund, H. Jørgensen, S. Christensen, T. D'Hertefeldt, S. Hotes, W.H.G. Hol, J. Frouz, M. Liiri, S. Mortimer, H. Setala, J. Tzanopoulos, K. Uteseny, Karoline, V. Pižl, J. Stary, V. Wolters, and K. Hedlund. (2015) Intensive agriculture reduces soil biodiversity across Europe. Global Change Biology, 21, 973-985.

The mainstreaming of better food security and better nutrition today, comes down to inspiring individual importance on health, and new biodiversity education with the correct information on proper diet. As this specific information is learned by more individuals, they will be motivated to support new farming methods that benefit our food security and nutrition greatly. This gradual process of learning and changing will be the next step in not only security for food and the best nutrition but also in improving world poverty conditions, and sustaining fruitful population growth.

The new diet will motivate Permaculture Farming (2nd best man made food source), which is the old answer to everything eloquently disguised as new alternative gardening. After a while of this planting and new way of eating; Bio-Dynamic Agriculture (best man made food source) written by Rudolph Steiner, and wild plant foraging will take the forefront of importance as this type of farming once did – when there was great food security and the best nutrition in human culture.

New Diet

Talking about better nutrition is very simply talking about a more correct, natural and optimal diet.

Today we eat three to ten mostly cooked things, on three plates daily (with slight individual variation). Here in Panama where the Nutritional Diversity study continues, the local culture eats mostly chicken and mostly fried, fried green plantains, fried yucca cassava (a great crop for food security, and excellent nutrition when the whole plant is used and prepared properly); all using hydrogenate vegetable oil (which is gut destruction if a real tribe found out just how harmful it is would likely kill those who introduced it).

Vegetables are interestingly rare on plates here in this Panamanian and Latin American culture as a whole today, even among the indigenous. Just like across the English speaking world, here now packaged, processed foods are added to the arsenal of mistakes. Insanely misguided and harmful modern agriculture and modern nutritional practices dominate this country as they do every single country on the globe.

These cultural and educational norms have shorted us incredibly on the scopes of proper or even sufficient nutrition. Every diet typed up on the web today, taught in schools, by mom, grandma or by your nutritionist, is insufficient nutrition.

Nutritional Diversity Diet, is the practice of eating at least 30-60 different species and working thy way towards 100 and more, per day /week. While modern diets argue the small points and do the regurgitated “exclude this, add this, research paper this, study on rats that” simply learning from nature we can obtain the idea from the monkeys, the cows, the bees, and the trees that a large diversity of nutrition is what makes optimal health. The Nutritional Diversity concept is a concept from nature, and it is based on all natural practice.

I must apologize in my last entry before realizing the potential of this particular forum, I made reference to monkeys as a specie that lacked imagination, this was a serious error on my part. Monkeys are one of the natural specie who I learned this concept from, and they don’t require the doctor or the dentist and so far as I can tell still have all their teeth; a feature I myself cannot boast. They look at me on my Panama farm, curiously as if they think “what are these other crazy primates doing?” I wonder if they say “he does all the work to make plants grow, something they do on their own, and something there are plenty of.” They look at me as if I am crazy and they love so free, and so happy, and they do try to to defend the forest from us forest clearing primates with their howls (The Island of Colon Bocas del Toro, Panama a principle study site, is largely populated with the howler monkey).

Nutritional Diversity Diet study over the last five years fell almost immediately into the study of eating wild plants, and the great uncontaminated nutrition that they offer. Along the way we have taken a good hard look at the way plants benefit from healthy positive human and animal interaction, Bio-Dynamic Farming principles and more to get the most of our farm and our nutrition. It is a science, a Nutritional Diversity Science.

“Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.” – Paracelsus

While the “their stomachs versus ours,” arguments throughout the various primate specie can be debated, all mammal stomachs in nature seem to be filled full of plants to the point that the waist in half digested, green fibrous and healthy shaped (refer to Bio-Dynamic Agriculture: Vortex). The healthiest human states in my experience come from the mimicking of this practice (in the ND study) and I have worked with a lot of people, a lot of ailments and challenges at this point who have all (100%) benefited “most remarkably” (their words) from this very practice versus other practices they have tried to include modern medical practices. Shove them down ladies and gentlemen, a diverse spectrum of plants.

WARNING: You cannot just go and start eating wild unknown things some of it in the smallest dose will kill you. Some will make you very sick, you must work with an expert in plants, and plant edibility testing, a food testing education which my group can also provide.

The regular human waste is a foul smelling dark colored waste most normally seen in nature from rodents and more carnivorous beings. So this being said, meats have something to do with that waste form and nutritionally meats are healthy, if the animal was loved, and their endocrine systems were left unmolested. I do not at all disqualify any meats, in fact I think that a diversity of meat eating is also essential to health.I also think with enough reforestation, and what I call living in harmony with nature like the other biological things do the Vegan concerns become smaller Optimal nutrition is a complex science and we have written as a doctrinal factor 5x times as much raw or cooked natural plant fiber (10% raw minimum) as any other food state and a diversity of 30 specie minimum for newbie diet revolutionaries. Individual assessments of lifestyle and bowel health can be quickly made from waist examination. The answer still remains the same, and this is adding in the diverse plant ratio above.

Realizing the centrally distributed modern agriculture / mono culture food supply is full of glyphosate and other harmful chemicals linked to cancers and other sickness, and the harmfulness of eating these foods and processed foods alone makes food security conversation even more nervous. It kills the nutrition conversation completely just like the soils these mono culture grown foods are  farmed on. For both nutrition and security we must seek other food sources (permaculture / wild culture, etc.).

The Nutritional Diversity diet is the best most advanced, routed in nature; miraculous diet that has ever been described on the modern diet scene. It’s effective and quickly gaining popularity among athletes. We are developing a Nutritional Diversity food supplement to help people in the every day hustle and bustle get it together right for themselves away. This is the optimal nutritional formula. It mandates a different food supply within it’s doctrine one of two primary changes to be made. The second is to eat a more full spectrum nutrition, in the starting range (according to our study thusfar) of 30-60 species per day. This requires a bit of a mechanism building for most modern humans. Gradually an optimal nutrition will be gained eating a spectrum closer to 100 different species. Mainstream this diet, and mainstream food security and better nutrition.

This diet on a regular through our testing with a pretty significant  test pool so far, means the healthiest looking waist product, better sleep, better mood, physical healing, weight-loss, and lean muscle core improvements,  joint and skeletal improvements, better stamina, and better brain function. It is my friends, the better nutrition we seek.

New Information

Could it really be a little bit of new information on how to eat better, and sufficiently, can help me twice the man (or woman) I am today? Can just this new information provide for and also motivate, bio-diversity in my life and in the lives of other individuals?

This Nutritional Diversity miracle concept is new information for most ears. It does ring that bell that rings when things make sense, and the brain bulb turn on right when hearing it.

New information today in the modern age of confusion has it’s challenges, especially concerning modern diet. Health is not understood, by today’s human culture. Medicinal practices today are some of the most intrusive, unnecessary harmful and misguided practices human culture has ever faced. Misguided guidelines and health guru’s, their business models, insurance companies , pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and I am sorry to say but people with PHD’s in biology, have been so polluted by ill research and insane science that new pure natural information, as accurate as this is even has it’s human opponents, corporate or government opponents and this is an important mention in discussing nutrition and food security. Monsanto is a perfect and most recent example of this and of new information that is harmful to the food supply, bio-diversity on this planet, and nutrition most immediately.

Having opponents today is interesting. If their is big governments and corporations who threaten the food supplies or even start wars of killing and destruction, where are those formidable opponents at all? Community is such a big part of this because, it’s communities of paycheck receiving good people that push these dangerous mistakes and interests of the rather malnourished few who design control models. It will be the Permaculture Farming and Nutritional Diversity Eating cultures that will be our guides to freedom, health and happiness moving forward. These interests will be heavy hands in securing and advancing bio-diversity. Nutritional Diversity Science doctrine is heavily rooted in the importance of referring to nature and restoring some balance opposite of technological industry to individual human life and the life of all biology in which we come from.

There is a lot of green stuff out there, we don’t know it, and what we do know we use inappropriately. We still know quite a bit and herbalogists have made some texts that have survived through time also. Food testing can be done, and modern catalogues can be made, and we do a lot of study in wild foods for security.

Loggers can take out the jungle, our bio-diversity, a billion times faster than we can reforest it.

Humans today are going to care the most when they are educated that today’s harmful agriculture and industrial culture effects them as individuals the most. Again this individual motivation will start with Nutritional Diversity Education.

This new information will upset huge industry, tons of businesses, thousands of FDA and PHD and health industry recommends. Huge agricultural chemical supply dealers to the modern agriculture mono culture system, and they will no doubt spend large budgets to protect their industry. Are challenges in food security and nutrition are great. But Let’s be very clear on what those challenges are. If you have taken a train a plane a car or a bus, around any country you know there is plenty of green stuff out there. It may not be as sweet and pretty as the other stuff but educate yourself, about how those sweet pretty foods are produced and what the original paleolithic gathered species were more like. Cooking may require more brain power, imagination and ingredients in the future. Why not?

Dis-information and mis-information, themselves are significant enemies of nutrition and food security today. Everything from salt and fat recommends are inaccurate and have been for a long time. Regardless of arguments from numerous nutritionists and people in the fitness channels who test optimal nutrition closely, certain guidelines remain unchanged and even interestingly re-enforced in opposition, something very apparent in developing countries sadly.

New Education

A new education and also a cultural pimplanted reminder module development is so important.

It is surprising to me how many students of this Nutritional Diversity way of living, do it heal from it, and then when I check in later with tehm later on, tell me they have trouble keeping there range of diversity above 30 (the minimum biodiverse diet standard). I myself will never go back to eating the insufficient nutrition that modern education examples for us. We need new education for how to eat, where to get our food from, and regarding the biology and life cycle in which we come from and depend on. This education just like the incorrect diet education of old had been, should be oriented for the young learning mind. We have developed an online biodiversity education for young people.

New education about biodiverse diet, and the individual impact it has on each of us will no doubt be the mainstreaming of biodiversity for food supplies. When people realize the benefits of this way of eating, and healing, the market for diverse agriculture practices will be in high demand. As a response to this demand, we will have man bio-diverse motives across the globe to learn and benefit from.

Our new education model will include reforestation education, food forest development, an initial basics “movie” followed by several learning episodes with the bold creative missions needed in this bio-revolution of the way we know nature and benefit from nature.

Cities from space photography mirror almost exactly microscopic images of cancer, to much man made stuff and we have a crisis of young aged cancer patients. We need new systems for living in many ways, renewable energies are here, solar systems are top of the line, and affordable. We sit on the fence of change as if afraid to go into the new era, of health freedom and happiness.

Here are a few simple ways you can pass on the knowledge.

The first is nutritionaldiversity.com where we even develop a learning show for kids and the whole family all about permaculture, nature, bio-diversity, loving animals and good food.

Most simply eat what you eat now and start adding as many different and bio-diverse fresh green non-toxic organic plants from the wild (you must be educated here, and know what you are doing) or from organic permaculture farms. Cram them in, until your waist cannot wait to leave, and you start producing shiny green waist, with undigested fiber that leaves your body in a regular two to three times a day optimal health fashion. Simply learn about a permaculture farm near you and help your friends and family, buying for them all at much better prices and way better values, to start to cleanse the toxins that all U.S. citizens blood test very high for right now. You should be able to buy your entire starting  Nutritional Diversity Diet from one permaculture farm.

New education must be simple, many contributions to this subject only other PHD’s can understand. The everyday poor person with no education understands a seed thrown in the dirst can grow, a PHD in biology thanks to modern education, will want to confuse and see papers on the process there. this direction of direction is curious and wrong if one seeks to understand biology.

Albert Einstein — ‘If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.’

“The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore the physician must start from nature, with an open mind.” – Paracelsus

Nutritional Diversity is the Mainstreaming of Bio-Diversity in Diet.

With all of our challenges please support our Nutritional Diversity Diet & Permaculture Education effort here.

Here is the New Education Model!

Support the Permaculture and Biodiversity Education Movie & TV Show for Kids & Family Project here!

Paper Written For Submission to : fao.org : Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for improved Food Security and better Nutrition

It is recommended to download this in pdf format.

Continued Points:

Water is Everything.

We discuss food security, and imagine the idea in relation to the impoverished. Most who discuss the subject have not lived in poverty, how can they know it like a poor person does? Interestingly, the modern city water supply taps in the English speaking world is terrible across the board, even to contain pharmaceuticals, plastic micro fibers and some of it was even flammable..

Water pollution is drastically prevalent – most important resource is water. All biology is over 70% water, and it is a much more complex element that any of modern science realizes. Please see this information and very solid science on biology and water, and some home water solutions that you can use right away to clean it up for your family.

It’s Not When Are They Going To Stop But Who is Going To Stop Them!

Corporate, business and government interests are the greatest threats to our quality of life, ability to survive, freedom, independence and food security and nutrition.

Biodiversity itself is under serious threat and there are a few places on the earth measured to have the most bio-diversity left in them. We need to realize with our individual diet and nutritional realizations that, these zones need not only protection but expansion. Permaculture reforestation efforts and food supplies should be developed on the outskirts of these areas and others, on land not owned, or land shared in diverse ownership of individuals who did the work, and not corporations of people who buy and sell things that don’t care so much about the life their for sustained food security and better nutrition for all.

Quite frankly small groups with the right expertise, research orientation and funding can establish incredible food security and nutrition across the globe that will also inherently provide for freedom, increased quality of life, better air, less global warming issues, less discussion about population control  and optimal health for soil, plants, animals, fish in the sea, birds in the sky us everything. Fund a few Permaculture groups to go out and do this full time year round, it’s one of the smartest actions

The Native American of North America lived in a story where crossing the Mississippi river one could not help but be pelted with 100 fish and a squirrel did not ever touch the ground from that river to the Atlantic Ocean.

Food Security and Nutrition become a crisis because of a series of mistakes, which we must as a human culture take responsibility for and fix. Should we continue this road or error we will multiply the results of these errors and fall to immensely low quality of life, violence and terrible nutrition.

Who is going to turn us around? Who will save us from the corporate destruction? I think of the James Cameron Avatar production and the “Toru Macdow,” charter who decides his life mission and calling is to be a savior. I think of this reference because it’s a movie my and beloved daughter saw in 3-D together, some of the best memories I have. It is these real things I value most, and too many products of industry disgust my other cousins in nature, and I recognize that. It was Nature and Nutritional Diversity diet who healed me from the hardcore loss of my princess, a depression that actually killed me twice, and had me completely non functional for years.

Thank you for you interest in Better Nutrition, Food Security and Mainstreaming Nutritional Diversity. You can become more involved in our small humble, leading research effort in the game by contacting here. As cocky as I can be sometimes, the aim is to leave you with a smile, and say that our ecosystem and our fraction of the important research too definitely needs your help.

Most importantly now that you have read this, get yourself some good nutrition, get nice and brainy and productive and improve your own quality of life through nature. To be Nutritionally Diverse does also require that you go into nature, not just the concrete jungle whose space shuttle taken imagery resembles cancer through a microscope.

Sincerely Your Friend & Fellow Child of God,

I love you,

Brandon Eisler

Dr.N.G.Kumar , Department of Agricultural Entomology,University of Agricultural Sciences,GKVK,Bangalore-560065,Karnataka,India

Dear Members of the Forum,

I am associated with the Global Soil Biodiversity initiative. I am working on the soil biology aspects since 1984. Soil biodiversity play an important role in decomposition of organic litter to available form of nutrients to plants. As we know well that the organic litter pass through primary consumers, secondary and tertiary consumer to form humus in nature (natural forest ecosystem). In this process, mycophytic feeders, primary and secondary decomposers, reducers also play important role in the ecosystem. A balance of all organisms and microbes takes place in nature. No outbreak of any pest and diseases in the natural forest ecosystem. With this background my work initiated to enhance biodiversity in the agro ecosystem especially in the dry land agro-ecosystem.

1) I worked on the impact of the subterranean termite Odontotermes horni foraging effects on the soil nutrient status. This is a dominant species in South Indian states especially in the red soil .The results indicated this species extensively consume organic matter (crop residue) from October to February months (post cropping season) under rain fed situation. Significant reduction in soil organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and total nitrogen content in termite replaced soil was observed. Soil meso -faunal abundance greatly reduced due to non-availability of organic matter. This fungus growing termite never leaves a single pellet of excreta also. Even though, the soil physical properties altered it is mainly in the non-cropping season.So, termite activity is not favorable for conserving soil organic matter and faunal biodiversity.

2) Second project on “Soil management for increased fertility: role of soil meso and macro fauna”- Sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research –National Agricultural Technology Project

This project was operated in the alfisols under rain fed cropping situation.

Highlights:

The mesofaunal activity was peak at the end of rainy season (October –November Month) both in the natural (undisturbed grass land) and agro ecosystem.

Soil meso faunal abundance and diversity was > 60 per cent less in the adjacent agro ecosystem compared to natural undisturbed grass land.

Recommended fertilizer and other practices reduced soil mesofaunal population .However, slight increase in mesofaunal population was observed when farm yard manure @ 10tonnes /ha applied along with other cultivation practices recommended for the crop,

Intercropping, multiple cropping and crop rotation enhanced soil mesofaunal diversity and abundance than monocropping.

One fixed treatment experiment was initiated in the year 2001 and continued till 2016.The treatments included soil application of 5,10,12.5,15,17.5 and 20 t of FYM /ha at the beginning of the cropping season and compared with only recommended package of practices for soybean cultivation. Fertilizer dose was reduced to 25, 50 and 75 per cent in 12.5,15 and 17.5 t of FYM/ha applied treatments. Consortium of native mesofauna rich soil (1 kg /21 sq.m) was introduced to each treatment after germination of the soybean crop.

Significant increase in soil mesofaunal diversity and abundance was noticed after fourth year of experiment especially in 17.5 t of FYM +25% of Fertilizer and 20 t of FYM alone/ha applied plots. Apart from this, the soil Organic carbon content increased to 0.75 to 0.8 per cent from 0.3 per cent in the beginning of the experiment or compared to fertilizer alone treated plot. Significant increase in available N, P.K, ex.Ca, Mg, Na, soil microbial biomass carbon and soil enzyme content was observed in 20 t of FYM alone + native mesofauna introduced treatment. Soybean grain yield was high compared to recommended package of practices and fertilizer treatment with introduced native mesofauna treatments. Even application of 5 tonnes of FYM was on par in grain yield with recommended fertilizer alone treatment. Addition of partially decomposed organic matter also supported more soil mesofaunal abundance.

Conclusion: The soil mesofauna can be re-established in the agro ecosystem by introducing from the mesofauna rich native ecosystems of the local conditions and supplying sufficient quantity of mesofauna and microbe food ( farm yard manure & crop residue) to the field. Growing of suitable multiple crops, crop rotation etc enhance soil biodiversity .Deep ploughing operation should be avoided. It is easy to reestablish mesofauna in the protective irrigated conditions.

Drawback: Source of mesofauna rich soil is limited. So, it takes long time to cover vast agro ecosystem.

3) I was also involved as co-investigator (soil fauna) of the TSBF –CIAT/GEF project – Conservation and management of below ground biodiversity at Western ghat biosphere. Highlights of the project – Natural forest ecosystem had significantly high soil biodiversity and abundance compared to cardamom, coffee, natural grass land (shallow depth soil), paddy and afforested land with Acacia sp. alone.

With these experiences I am working on the ICAR project “Sustainable management of soil fertility through enhancing native soil fauna

1) Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition.

Biodiversity is contributing in achieving food security and improved nutrition?

Yes , it helps in maintaining sustainable ecosystem for better crop growth with self regulating mechanism of pest and diseases.

The overuse of biodiversity compromise food security and nutrition?

It helps in food security by avoiding use of fertilizers, pesticides etc and reduce pollution.

2) All agricultural sectors (crop and livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture) rely on biodiversity and on the ecosystem functions and services, they underpin. At the same time, these sectors may affect biodiversity through various direct and indirect drivers.

Explained above as per the results of various projects operated by me

Where a (sustainable) production system played a key role for the conservation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

Yes, sustainable production system can be achieved with the above results within 4-5 years.

Where a(n) (unsustainable) production system played a key role for the degradation of the biodiversity surrounding it?

I evaluated different doses of fertilizer, various insecticides, acaricides, herbicides, fungicides and neemcake in the natural undisturbed grass land where soil mesofaunal abundance is more. All agrochemicals showed negative impact on the abundance and diversity of soil meso and macro faunal activity.

3) Good governance, enabling frameworks, and stewardship initiatives are needed to facilitate mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across agricultural sectors.

Yes, good governance and stewardship initiatives are needed along with demonstrations to facilitate mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across agricultural sectors.

Do you have any examples of such enabling factors and initiatives or the lack of it?

I explained the same above

Which partners need to be involved in institutional frameworks, policies and processes for biodiversity mainstreaming to strengthen them?

Agricultural university (where Farmers training Centre exist) , State agriculture departments, NGO’s can take up this activity.

4) The importance of biodiversity for improved food security and better nutrition is not always evident to those engaged in agricultural sectors.

What needs to be done to increase awareness of farmers, livestock keepers, fisher folks and foresters, their organizations and the industry of the relevance of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the food and agriculture production in their sector?

Agricultural university (where Farmers training Centre exist) , State agriculture departments, NGO’s can take up this activity

How can the technical and institutional capacity needed to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce the impact on biodiversity be developed?

A course on sustainable agriculture with good coverage of soil, fauna, plant and microbes are needed for undergraduate and post graduate degree programme level especially in the agriculture, horticulture, forestry and fisheries degree programmes.

1. Biodiversity is contributing in achieving food security and improved nutrition?

Through our research we have screened several arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth promoting rhizomicroorganisms (PGPR), studied their compatibility and using such microbial consortia (MC) we have inoculated crops important in agriculture, horticulture and forestry and have shown that 25 - 50% of NPK fertilizer can be saved through inoculation with MC. These have been proved under field conditions. Inoculation not only saved chemical fertilizer input but also crop yield up to 10% with no adverse effect on nutrients. This has been shown in crops like french bean, chilly, capsicum, tomato, finger millet and many medicinal plants like Ocimum sanctum, Coleus forskohlii, Withania somnifera, etc.  Another interesting observation in medicinal plants is that inoculation also increased secondary metabolite concentration which is of industrial/medicinal importance.

2. Where a (sustainable) production system played a key role for the conservation of the biodiversity surrounding it? 

We have screened and developed the best AMF for inoculating several forest tree species in the nursery. Inoculation resulted in healthy vigourously growing seedlings which established better when planted in the field site. These seedlings were planted in wasteland and monitored periodically. The inoculated trees were nearly twice the size of the uninoculated trees when monitored 60 months after planting. This was studied in tree species like Tectona grandis, Dalbergia sissoo and Acacia auriculiformis.   

3. Do you have any examples of such enabling factors and initiatives or the lack of it?

a) There is one place called Palamaner in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. One of the crops raised in this region is peanut. The yield of peanut in this region is low. We felt that it may be due to lack of effective Rhizobium in soil. In our experiment for 3 years we treated the seeds with an effective strain of Rhizobium and raised the crop. The growth and yield of peanut was nearly 25% more as compared to uninoculated crop.

b) In South India tomato is affected by a disease called wilt disease complex. It is caused by a fungus (Fusarium udum), a bacterium (Ralstonia solanacearum) and a nematode (Meloidogyne incognita). We have developed a MC consisting of Glomus bagyarajii, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Paecilomyces lilacinus which effectively protected tomato against the wilt disease complex. 

4. What needs to be done to increase awareness of farmers, livestock keepers, fisher folks and foresters, their organizations and the industry of the relevance of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the food and agriculture production in their sector?

There is a need to strengthen popularization of biofertilizers and biocontrol organisms for the benefit of farmers through media, training programmes and demonstration trials.