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Conference on Biodiversity & Agriculture: INRA confirms its commitment

On the occasion of the international conference on Biodiversity and Agriculture, Marion Guillou, President of INRA, reminded those present that "agriculture must refocus its efforts on biodiversity" and confirmed that INRA is committed to encouraging this research dynamic.

In response to the demographic and environmental challenges of the 21st century, and in a context of sustainable development, agriculture must be able to increase yields and areas of cultivated land while preserving and encouraging biodiversity and adapting to climate change. To achieve this, agriculture must refocus its efforts on biodiversity, and encourage and exploit it in all its forms: the diversity of cultivated plants and domesticated animals, the diversity of production systems and landscapes, and the diversity of organisms living in semi-natural environments.

This constitutes a new challenge for research, which must contribute to action in an uncertain world: proportionally, much still needs to be discovered about the functioning of agro-ecosystems, but the usefulness and vulnerability of biodiversity mean that every effort should be made in this respect.

Research must be mobilised in an interactive and structured fashion. The collective scientific expert report published by INRA has highlighted some possible paths towards a new dynamic for relationships between agriculture and natural biodiversity. For example, it emphasises the role of semi-natural areas and the landscape mosaic in preserving, and potentially restoring, biodiversity. It calls for the development of a spatial organisation of agriculture that will encourage biodiversity and be able to exploit its benefits, in collaboration with actors at the relevant regional scale.

Research, agriculture, biodiversity: three areas where the European Union has defined its political orientations and where citizens have high expectations. This conference has enabled confirmation of a collective desire to stimulate research on agriculture and biodiversity at a European level. As for INRA, it is wholly committed to this dynamic, notably at the level of the Foundation for Scientific Cooperation on Biodiversity and the ERA-Net Biodiversa.

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This conference, which took place in Montpellier on November 4 and 5, 2008, was organised in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was sponsored by the French Ministries for Higher Education and Research (MESR) and Agriculture and Fisheries (MAP), and was coordinated by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).

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> for more information on the conference
> for more information on the biodiversity expert report and the challenges for agricultural research
> read the 113-page summary of the scientific expert report (PDF)
> read the 4-page synopsis of the expert report

Written by : INRA press service, phone: +33 (0)1 42 75 91 69

Sylvie Colleu: +33 (0)1 42 75 95 55