• Maintenance or expansion of natural vegetation covers at the level of productive systems and territorial units.
• Proper soil management for conservation, maintenance of natural fertility, and erosion control.
• Protection of natural and second-growth forests, shrub nurseries or tree plantations within production systems.
• Crop diversification and rotation to avoid environmental and economic risks.
• Ecological and economic zoning of production areas and conservation to facilitate their efficient use.
• Establishment of protected areas in the form of biological corridors to make efficient use of beneficial wildlife (pest controllers), depending on local conditions.
• Integrated management of various aspects of production: control of pests and diseases, management of soil fertility, seed bank exchanges.

AKST can be devoted primarily or target more public money to small and medium-scale agriculture. This sector does not have the investment capacity of the big producers’ associations that produce for industrial processing and that can co-finance research facilities and extension services. A lesser effort can be obtained from associations involved in some productive chains such as dairy, seed potatoes, wheat, fruit orchards, coffee, etc.

The process of developing technologies for managing productive systems has been exogenous: many sector-specific technologies have been introduced without any evaluation of their environmental impact. Many of them were developed under totally different ecological conditions, and when applied in other regions their performance has varied greatly. The assessment is that in some regions they have produced good results, while in others the impact was negative.

If technologies are to contribute to sustainability they must be ecologically appropriate, economically viable, and socially fair (Astier and Hollands, 2005). In this respect, AKST should consider the systemic management of production units in its future development and innovation. This will imply a paradigm shift at two levels: (1) taking account of farming-livestock interactions, agroforestry, integrated crop and livestock systems and the planting of trees on farms, and integrated management of soil fertility components; (2) taking account of agriculture’s other roles. AKST must also change to accompany these transitions at the university level, through a rapprochement between agronomy and ecology, and managing agricultural lands with the systemic focus.

To facilitate the evolution of knowledge in the management of productive systems (see Chapter 4) requires:

• Strengthening the human resource capacities of communities for developing appropriate technologies.
• Developing a common network of information and exchange of experience in managing productive systems, with scientific and technological support.
• Designing and implementing a national and regional platform for communication and technical information

that will articulate agroecological data with sustainable management of production systems.

5.4.2 Biodiversity and intellectual property
The Millennium Ecosystems Assessment (MA) predicts that the continued degradation of ecosystems services will contribute substantially to the loss of biodiversity to the year 2050 with a consequent decline in the quality of environmental services, an aspect of particular concern for the objectives of reducing hunger and poverty (EEM, 2005). When it comes to formulating policies for managing ecosystems, there are two approaches: one of them is reactive, and most problems are addressed only after they have become obvious; in the other, ecosystem management is proactive and policies seek deliberately to maintain ecosystem services over the long term (EEM, 2005). In addition, environmental deterioration has reached the point where proactive measures must be taken to reduce the impact of climate change.

The available technology is focused on commercial crops, which require greater industrial inputs, and this perpetuates environmental deterioration. AKST policies have for the most part contributed to environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity, and are threatening mankind’s welfare through the reduction of phytogenetic resources,41 which are the foundation of food sovereignty for many people. Policies to protect and conserve phytogenetic resources are a major consideration for achieving the IAASTD goals.

In this context, what is needed is a transformation of public awareness and international policy, and a determination to take measures to protect ecosystems throughout the planet, so as to defend basic services such as the secured supply of food and fresh water, and to protect against disasters.

The Earth Summit produced the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but it is important to take into account sustainable farming practices in order to enhance food security for the world population and to help protect biologically diverse ecosystems. There must be better coordination between policies and actions; a study is needed of the economic benefits of biological diversity, the costs of its loss, and the costs that will flow from not taking protective measures, compared to the costs of effective conservation.

On the other hand, a framework of action is needed to reach commitment on reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. We have the responsibility of forging a global alliance to sustain life on earth, the principal objective of the Rio Summit, which established options for action in order to guarantee prevention, sustainable use, and equitable distribution of the benefits of biodiversity.

We may note that countries of the Third World are demanding that developed countries, which exploit their biological resources commercially, should provide them access to biotechnologies and the indispensable financing (Swaminathan, 2000). The trend of events demands that we change our rules governing intellectual property so that

41 Phytogenetic resources refers to any genetic material of plant origin that is of real or potential value for food and agriculture; they are generally found in the seeds.