Linkages between agriculture (cultivated systems and livestock) and  biodiversity are very strong and deserve to be highlighted, especially with the growing pressure on natural resources due in part to a growing world population in combination with an increased per capita consumption.

Farmers are faced with the double challenge of achieving food security requirements while carrying out nonfood activities. Careful planning and adequate resources need to be in place to encourage them carry out this important task.

Farmers understand the need to protect and conserve biodiversity, and their role in doing so. Continued efforts to build on this knowledge can only help farmers to further develop an understanding of how their activities relate to biodiversity. As a consequence, this will promote practices that protect and enhance sustainability whilst reducing the impact of those practices which constitute a threat to biodiversity. However, it is crucial to maintain the economic viability of their agricultural activity alongside the promotion and conservation of biodiversity. Improved understanding of the role of farmers and better definition of their role would achieve a change in mindset with respect to farmers’ rights’ and responsibilities in this regard and thus reducing the pressure on natural resources.

The main issue for farmers, from both developed and developing countries, is gaining recognition for the multiple roles that agriculture is expected to fulfil and to identify appropriate mechanisms in order to achieve them, such as helping and encouraging farmers to improve their current practices. For farmers, it is important to recognize the natural relationship between biodiversity and agriculture. Agriculture and biodiversity should not be segregated but rather should be seen as complementary and integrated into the same ecosystem. For this, there is a need for a proactive and holistic approach. In order to reach genuine and longlasting changes of each farmer’s mindset, it is important to use a positive and constructive approach when policies are developed and implemented. Indeed, an incentive based approach using ‘carrots’ instead of ‘sticks’, proves to be an efficient method especially in those countries where markets do not reward farmers for both food and non food products.
In agricultural areas with high value biodiversity and ecosystem services, how can ecosystems be restored and preserved? What kind of mechanisms should be put in place to create markets for environmental services to benefit all farmers? Such mechanisms already exist in most developed countries. However, there is a need to put in place the right mechanisms in developing countries which are adapted to the specificities of each location. How to create such systems to reward farmers from developing countries where markets do not reward them for the food they produce?

Farmers and their organizations have a responsibility in this integration process. However, this is a shared responsibility with the rest of society. Indeed, there is a need for the participation of all stakeholders’, and in  particular governments relation to policies.