ABSTRACT
Agricultural biodiversity is a cornerstone of food security and essential for human, animal, plant, microbial, and environmental health. Yet, few concrete efforts have been made to holistically examine either the common drivers of biodiversity loss in agroecosystems and human ill health, or their implications for the science-policy interface. Land use change is a defining feature of agricultural production and a leading driver of disease emergence in humans and wildlife. The shift towards increased meat consumption as countries become more affluent accelerates pressures on agroecosystems. Invasive alien species pose considerable threats to ecosystems, biodiversity, agriculture, health, and livelihoods, and may be causative agents of algal blooms. Pollution from agricultural production and other industrial uses poses direct threats to agroecosystems and human health. Changes in climate combine with other environmental threats to traditional food systems, medicinal plants, and ethnopharmacological discovery. The steady decline of genetic diversity in agroecosystems resulting from intense selection has been dramatic.
