Seth Shames
Practitioner Fellow at International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Location:
United States
Project Title: Integrating Agriculture into the Convention on Biological Diversity
Publications and Presentations: Agriculture and the Convention on Biological Diversity: Guidelines for Applying the Ecosystem Approach
Project Description
Increasing agricultural production is widely agreed to be a critical strategy to reduce poverty in low-income rural areas of the developing world. Many of these same regions provide habitat critical to the conservation of wild species and ecosystem services essential for human livelihoods.
It has been assumed that tradeoffs between agricultural production and biodiversity conservation objectives are unavoidable. In many circumstances, however, agricultural practices depend and capitalize upon the inherent benefits and services provided by natural ecosystems, while many farming, herding, forest, and fishing communities play an important role in conserving wild biodiversity. Diverse approaches to minimizing the tradeoffs and optimizing the synergies between agricultural livelihoods and biodiversity are emerging in agroecosystems worldwide and are known collectively as ecoagriculture.
"The May 2008 review of the United Nation's Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) program of work on agricultural biodiversity presents a unique opportunity to bring attention to the importance of integrating agricultural issues more fully into the CBD, and more broadly within the biodiversity conservation discourse," said Seth Shames. "My project will use this moment to gather and articulate best practices for conservation in agricultural landscapes that will be supported by a broad coalition of conservation, development, and agricultural research organizations and disseminated to the parties to the CBD (national governments) responsible for implementation."
Shames will gather experiences and insights from coalition organizations and existing information from around the world on agricultural biodiversity conservation. Based on these lessons, he will identify key messages to provide an organizing framework for coalition members to speak with a unified voice around agricultural biodiversity in the CBD. Using these messages as a starting point, he will draft a position paper that will articulate the logic and evidence behind the messages, and then move toward specific recommendations for the parties and others affiliated with the CBD on how they can more effectively implement the program of work on agricultural biodiversity.
"These recommendations will highlight innovative, on-the-ground agriculture/conservation planning techniques and technologies, as well as policy and market opportunities to provide incentives for the integration of conservation activities into agricultural landscapes," said Shames.
Biographical Information
Seth Shames holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology and environmental science from Columbia College and a master's of environmental science with a focus on policy and economics from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Shames currently serves as policy and research mobilization project manager for Ecoagriculture Partners. He has studied agroforestry systems in Peru and conservation tillage for small farmers in Ethiopia and has organized community-supported agriculture groups in New York City. Shames also has experience as an organic farmer.
|
 |
Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.
|
|
