Cancun
The first RCP thematic day, Landscape Day, was chosen as part of the celebration of the World Soil Day 2016 and focused on linkages between soils, biodiversity, land degradation and climate change. Landscape Day was co-organized by FAO and Germany’s Institute for Biodiversity and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. The governments of Mexico and Germany were contributing organizers. After opening remarks from the CBD Secretariat, FAO and Global Environment Facility (GEF), the first session focused on the findings of and lessons learned from place-based research on sustainable land management (SLM) conducted in 12 regional projects that are synthesized in the recently released publication, "Making Sense of Research for Sustainable Land Management." Three case studies were presented, highlighting technology solutions, stakeholders’ involvement, and model optimization approaches. Subsequent sessions discussed supporting policy coherence, the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and research efforts to quantify the effects of agricultural intensification on land productivity and biodiversity. Landscape Day concluded with a session celebrating World Soil Day 2016 and the launch of a new FAO flagship publication, “Soils and Pulses – Symbiosis for Life” aimed at promoting sustainable soil management towards achieving food security worldwide.
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The Rio Conventions Pavilion (RCP) opened on Monday, 5 December 2016, at the UN Biodiversity Conference, in Cancún, Mexico. It convened under the theme “Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Sectors,” and was hosted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat.