Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
19/04/2021
Speech by Dr QU Dongyu,
FAO Director-General
Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity
Monday 19 April 2021
As prepared
Honorable Ministers,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Welcome to this Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity – an event that brings science and policy together.
2. I am pleased to see so many have joined us today from all around the world – I understand that more than 6 000 participants have registered so far.
3. This is a clear sign of how relevant the issue of soil biodiversity is within our efforts to protect biodiversity as a whole.
4. With the adoption of its Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors, FAO has firmly prioritized its ambitions and actions to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss.
5. We are committed to helping countries to protect and enhance biodiversity as part of our engagement for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
6. Because restoring, conserving and sustainably using biodiversity is crucial for transforming MORE productive, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems to underpin long-term food security in the future.
7. Biodiversity provides sustainable solutions to challenges facing agri-food systems and be protected by sustainable systems of agriculture and food.
8. Embracing and building on this positive interaction is of particular importance to prevent future pandemics through a holistic, systemic and coordinated approach.
9. This is fully reflected in the newly presented FAO Strategic Framework for the next decade: human health, environment and biodiversity are closely linked through our aspirations: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
10. While biodiversity above ground is increasingly appreciated and protected, the underground biodiversity – of our soils - remains less known, less protected and less sustainably used.
11. Indeed, we only know around 1% of this hidden and quiet universe that makes up more than 25% of the total biodiversity of our planet!
12. It is where 95% of foods we eat is produced!
13. All efforts to manage, conserve and protect biodiversity must therefore include this invisible array of soil organisms.
14. Which is why this Symposium is so relevant and timely.
15. Soil organisms provide key ecosystem services, playing a crucial role in sustaining lives on earth.
16. Soil biodiversity is under constant threat.
17. Deforestation, land use change, wildfires, soil erosion, pollution, mono cropping, overuse of chemicals, surface sealing and urban sprawl all contribute to the loss of soil biodiversity and overall soil health.
18. Last year FAO, through its Global Soil Partnership and in collaboration with other organizations, launched the first-ever State of Knowledge on Soil Biodiversity Report to provide the status of the world’s soil biodiversity and highlight related challenges and solutions.
19. I am confident that the outcome document of this Symposium, will build on the results of that report and on the latest research that will be presented here.
20. We need a document that provides concrete guidance on:
a. what is needed to prevent the loss of soil biodiversity;
b. how to preserve and restore habitats of soil microorganisms; and
c. in what way soil biodiversity can contribute to achieving the SDGs.
Distinguished Participants,
21. The effort against soil degradation needs to be a combined one by all stakeholders.
22. This Symposium is an excellent example of how concrete joint action needs to look like.
23. Our meeting today is the result of a solid collaboration between FAO’s Global Soil Partnership, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, and the Science Policy Interface of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
24. I salute this alliance and express our commitment to pursue it further.
25. Let me also thank the Netherlands, the Russian Federation and Switzerland, as well as the European Commission, for providing financial support on soil biodiversity including for the organization of this symposium.
26. Sustainably managing soil biodiversity and preventing its loss needs to be integrated into global environmental frameworks as a priority for achieving the goals set in international agendas.
27. This includes the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, to be adopted at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) and the UN Food Systems Summit.
28. Let us show our reverence to nature and Keep Soil Alive, Protect Soil lives!
29. I wish you a productive Symposium.
30. Thank you.