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Real-world complexity of food security and biodiversity conservation

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Abstract

Feeding the booming human population and at the same time conserving biodiversity is a global challenge. Yet, it is particularly acute in developing countries where biodiversity is high and food-security low. There is an ongoing debate whether land for nature and for agriculture should be segregated (land sparing) or integrated (land sharing). While these strategies still need unambiguous empirical validation, we here illustrate the real-word complexity of this issue by focusing on the case of Kenya, hosting one of the fastest growing populations in the world. We discuss historical effects and those arising from recent demographic pressure, and integrate these with biotic and abiotic constraints (soil fertility and climate) that additionally challenge land sparing and sharing strategies for biodiversity conservation. Generically, our contribution stresses the importance of recognising the specific context in which land-use strategies are to be applied, and underline the need of a deeper understanding of local conditions. This work goes beyond the current theoretical and highly abstract land-use debate that has been published in high impact journals but which may be less efficient on solving local conflicts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Jan Christian Habel & Wolfgang W. Weisser

  2. Department of Biogeography, Trier University, 54286, Trier, Germany

    Mike Teucher, Berthold Hornetz & Ralph Jaetzold

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, South Eastern Kenya University, P.O. Box 170-90200, Kitui, Kenya

    Josphert N. Kimatu, Sichangi Kasili & Ronald K. Mulwa

  4. Department of Agribusiness and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 30028, Nairobi, Kenya

    Zachariah Mairura

  5. Department of Ornithology, National Museums of Kenya, 40658, Nairobi, Kenya

    Ronald K. Mulwa

  6. Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Hilde Eggermont

  7. Limnology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Hilde Eggermont

  8. Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Luc Lens

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  1. Jan Christian Habel
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  2. Mike Teucher
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  3. Berthold Hornetz
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  4. Ralph Jaetzold
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  5. Josphert N. Kimatu
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  6. Sichangi Kasili
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  9. Hilde Eggermont
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  10. Wolfgang W. Weisser
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  11. Luc Lens
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Christian Habel.

Additional information

Communicated by David Hawksworth.

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Habel, J.C., Teucher, M., Hornetz, B. et al. Real-world complexity of food security and biodiversity conservation. Biodivers Conserv 24, 1531–1539 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0866-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0866-z

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