Proposal of the verifier agroecological practices as a component of a biodiversity indicator to evaluate sustainable land management

Abstract

Many scientists have begun to recognize the role and importance of biodiversity in the functioning of agricultural systems. Biodiversity-friendly management has been identified, among others, as an indicator to evaluate strategies that increase biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services on an agricultural farm. Agroecological practices are an important component when evaluating this bioindicator and can be used in management programs for the sustainable use of natural resources. This article, therefore, proposes several options for practices compatible with the conservation of biological diversity, a form for collecting this information in the field and the methodology to evaluate the quality of agroecological practices that constitute a verifier of the Friendly management indicator with biodiversity in the evaluation of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in Cuba. Eight productive units were evaluated during the diagnostic period between 2018 and 2019, in the rainy and dry seasons. The verifier revealed results between good and bad, which responded to the low quality of the agroecological practices carried out on said farms. The validation of the methodology showed that it is an effective tool to evaluate the sustainability of the productive unit.