This is a critical moment for biodiversity. The “interlocking crises of biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and climate change amounts to the greatest market failure of all time”, as remarked by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema - Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).  It is evident that there is a need to integrate biodiversity into conservation if we are to combat topics such as health, food security or resilient livelihoods. Diets inextricably link human health and environmental sustainability. Ms Mrema highlighted that “the current dominant model of agriculture production is flawed”, and continued by saying that “a transition to diversified sustainable productions systems is essential and urgent, and will depend on the ability to leverage the transformative force of agricultural biodiversity”.  Transformative change is what is needed if we are to feed the nearly 1 billion hungry and more than 3 million obese and overweight people. Agriculture and food systems are the core of sustainable development and central to the deliberations regarding the CBD’s Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework taking place this week. These were the key messages that came out of the Side Event on Biodiversity, Agriculture and Food: FAO’s work for sustainable food production, ecosystem health and resilient livelihoods that took place at 13.00-14.30h Monday, 24 February at FAO HQ.

During the side event, it was clear that FAO is steering many initiatives that align themselves with the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, one being the on-going process towards developing a policy response on biodiversity for food and agriculture. François Pythoud, chairperson of the Commission on Genetic Resources to Food and Agriculture, highlighted the importance of developing such a policy response stemming from the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, which was launched in 2019. He urged participants and experts of the CBD to review the current document and contribute to the process.

As Stephan Weise, Special Advisor to the Director-General Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture said “Yes we can walk the talk!”

By working together, products such as the policy response on biodiversity for food and agriculture could play a vital role in the implementation of the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, helping us to safeguard biodiversity for the future.