Organic agriculture and biodiversity – a global review of research results

Summary

This presentation provides an overview of global research results that documents the effect of organic agriculture on biodiversity. It is underlined in the beginning of the presentation that the environmental impacts of Organic is well-documented compared with other certified labels (such as fair-trade, Rain Forest Alliance), and furthermore that a review of organic agriculture in global comparison studies found 66 studies with positive effect, 25 studies with no difference and 8 with negative effect.
The positive effects of organic agriculture in terms of presence of predators, parasitoids, pollinators, earthworks, soil bacteria, and birds; the economic benefits; as well as the reasons for the higher biodiversity in organic farms are summarised.
Following, habitat management and functional biodiversity is discussed and the presentation is concluded with references to the trade-offs between food production and other ecosystem services and the need for strengthening synergies between food production and other ecosystem services.