The Cool Farm Biodiversity metric: An evidence-based online tool to report and improve management of biodiversity at farm scale

Liam P. Crowther , Sarah H. Luke, Eduardo C. Arellano, Caitlin G. McCormack, Vinina Ferreira , Jon Hillier, Richard Heatcote, Henk Kloen, Andres Munoz-Saez, Patricia Oliveira-Rebouças, Fabiana Oliveira Da Silva, Nadia Rojas-Arevalo, Natalia Zielonka, Lynn V Dicks*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Halting biodiversity loss and achieving food security are both aims of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but there is complex interplay between them. Agriculture drives biodiversity loss, but biodiversity provides benefits to agriculture. There is substantial potential to develop ‘win-win’ solutions for biodiversity and people within productive farmland, by boosting wildlife that can be supported, whilst maintaining yield and other services. To achieve this, farmers need to be able to assess the impacts of their management on biodiversity at farm scale. While suitable tools exist to drive improvement in biodiversity management, none incorporates evidence on the effectiveness of specific management practices. In this study we present the Cool Farm Biodiversity metric, which generates a farm-scale action-based biodiversity management assessment, scored using expert judgements and expert assessment of experimental evidence. The metric is designed to be biome-specific, so it responds to conservation aims, ecosystem processes and farming systems in
particular biomes. To demonstrate that the metric is responsive to changes in farm management, we present an example of use on a large arable farm from the temperate forest biome.
Original languageEnglish
Article number111897
Pages (from-to)1-17
Number of pages17
JournalEcological Indicators
Volume161
Early online date4 Apr 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Sustainability reporting
  • Environmental
  • Social and Governance (ESG) Wildlife Nature Nature-positive Agriculture
  • Farming Food
  • production
  • Food system
  • Expert judgement
  • Stakeholders

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