Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is part of the ‘Biodiversity Plan’
Rome, 22 May 2024. On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, the Chair of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Mr Benoît Girard (Canada) stressed the important role of biodiversity and genetic resources for food security and nutrition.
This year, the theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity is “Be part of the Plan”. This is a call to action to encourage governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, non-governmental organizations, lawmakers, businesses, and individuals to highlight the ways in which they are supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the so called Biodiversity Plan.
“Conserving biodiversity and, more specifically, genetic resources for food and agriculture, is a task for all of us. Seeds, germplasm and other genetic materials feed into the rich agricultural diversity we see across the globe and they are key to helping us adapt to a changing world”, said Mr Girard. He further stressed that “the Biodiversity Plan and the Commission’s Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture complement each other. The implementation of one supports the implementation of the other.”
The Commission agreed in 2021 on the Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, which creates a contextual framework for the coherent and consistent implementation of the Commission’s Global Plans of Action on animal, aquatic, forest and plant genetic resources and for the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity for food and agriculture, including associated biodiversity and wild foods, as a basis for food security, nutrition and health, sustainable food and agriculture, and poverty reduction and livelihoods.