How biodiversity loss affects society

The industrialization of agriculture, which has occurred asynchronously in different parts of the world, goes hand in hand with a constant agrobiodiversity decline. The global loss of numerous edible crops and animals, as well as of landraces of still produced species, is not only harming the environmental sustainability of farming systems but has also generated societal consequences. We identify eight fields of consequences of agrobiodiversity loss on society: culture, language, and empirical knowledge; diets and cuisines; health; food environment; societal structures and gender issues; rural life; food security and livelihoods; and resilience of rural communities. We also specify how agrobiodiversity loss impacts society in each of these fields and then provide examples of this impact from as diverse regions as Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, The Pampas of Argentina, the Highlands of Yunnan in China, the Austrian Alps, and Burkina Faso.