2012-06-08
Internationally recognised book series on Sustainable Agriculture
The two first books out of three are titled “Sustainable Agriculture”, edited by Christine Jakobsson at SLU, and “Ecology and Animal Health”, co-edited by Leif Norrgren at SLU and Jeffrey M. Levengood at University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign, USA.
Researchers at SLU, along with other experts and scientists in the Baltic Sea Region and Great Lakes Region in the USA and Canada, have written a newly published book series “Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Agriculture”.
The Baltic Sea Watershed with its population of more than 85 million people contributes to an ongoing environmental disaster of the Baltic Sea through eutrophication, excess fishing, contamination by, for example, heavy metals and PCB, extinction of indigenous species and introduction of alien, and threats connected to climate change.
The books take a holistic approach to the sustainability concept and cover ecological, social, economical and institutional/juridical aspects, with the aim to strengthen the reader’s knowledge on ecosystems and its interaction with human activities in a wider sense.
Some examples covered in the books (besides food production) are:
- Protection of groundwater and surface waters in agricultural areas
- Occupational health and safety in agriculture
- Wildlife and ecosystems
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Impact of climate change on the health of wildlife, domestic animals and ecosystems
- Public goods in the form of natural and cultural amenities to benefit the ecosystem
- Fish production
The book series has achieved large international recognition as it has been awarded the status of a United Nations Partnership for Sustainable Development and the status of a Baltic 21 Lighthouse project (good example of an international project on sustainable development within the Baltic Sea Region awarded by Baltic 21 – an Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region).
It has been presented at many conferences, e.g. the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development 16 Meeting in May 2008, and AgroRus 2007 and 2008.
Written by:
Karin Nilsson