Common Ground, Common Future

This report was commissioned by Future Harvest, an initiative of 16 food and environmental research centres around the world that work to promote food security, protect the environment, and eliminate poverty… Local agriculture, as the chief provider of food and livelihoods to these people, must expand to meet rapidly growing world demand, keep up with burgeoning populations, and prevent hunger. Yet agriculture, as currently practiced, is a chief cause of the destruction of valuable habitats, pushing species towards extinction… The report proposes solutions, such as those that farmers, scientists, and environmentalists are using to conserve habitats and preserve species while boosting food production and improving the incomes of the poor. These innovations are based on the belief—borne out by empirical evidence—that humans and wild species can share common ground and prosper in a common future. Productive farming and effective conservation can occur on the same land through sound science and policy.