Global Project Coordinator Kim-Anh Tempelman represented ACP MEAs 3 at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), which took place in Montreal from 7-19 December 2022

What was the ACP MEAs 3 contribution to CBD COP15?

Over the past couple of years we organized several capacity building webinars to prepare negotiators from ACP MEAs countries for the discussions here, specifically as they relate to biodiversity for food and agriculture.

We also supported the attendance of agricultural biodiversity experts from Uganda, from the Eastern Africa Community (EAC) and from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

This was to make sure the topic of agricultural biodiversity wouldn't get lost in the conversation. Most of the delegates here are from environment ministries and there are very few voices talking about agriculture. In general at the national level, there is very little interaction between environment and agriculture ministries when it comes to addressing biodiversity.

So we have strengthened the delegations with biodiversity for agriculture experts to make sure the discussion remains broad, because what is being decided here will have an impact over the next decade on the agricultural community, which is often overlooked when talking about biodiversity.

We also co-organized a side event with the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), which presented their upcoming insect pollinator protection programme which will be carried out jointly with FAO in Latin America and the Caribbean, and with Promote Pollinators, a coalition of 31 countries that agreed to develop national pollinator protection strategies and action plans. Portugal, which is one of the members, explained their process in developing their national strategy.

Our side event took place in hybrid form on 10 December and had 70 in person and online attendees, not counting the speakers.

What are some of the highlights of the side event?

As ACP MEAs, we presented the policy brief that came out of our global seminar in February this year, which we launched on World Bee Day and which contains recommendations on how countries can better protect pollinators from pesticides at the policy and legislative levels.

We also had speakers from two of our beneficiary countries: Belize and Tanzania. We asked them to pick one recommendation from the policy brief and to explain its relevance to their country, in a hands-on way.

The Belize presentation focused on that country's Grow Safe Initiative and on the importance of agroecology and the need to support its implementation in the field.

The Tanzania presentation was about strengthening dialogue between pesticide users and beekeepers. Tanzania is one of the few countries that has a Beekeeping Act. It lays out regulations such as farmers must inform neighbouring beekeepers when they are about to spray, and a ban on daytime spraying within 7 kms of an apiary.

Were there any meaningful developments in the negotiations for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework?

KT: The draft that is under discussion contains 23 targets, two of which are particularly relevant to agriculture: Target 7 on pollution, which refers to reducing the risks caused by pesticides, and Target 10, which refers to sustainability in agriculture, including through the sustainable use of biodiversity.

For Target 7, the biggest development is that the European Union (EU) has asked for the inclusion of a specific reference to the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in reducing overall pesticide use. This was integrated into the Global Biodiversity Framework and is a huge step forward, because it introduces the notion of biodiversity-friendly practices as an alternative to pesticide use.

In terms of Target 10, which is the only one that specifically refers to agriculture, some countries pushed to include the term"agroecology" in the text. The final version refers to a "substantial increase of the application of biodiversity friendly practices, such as sustainable intensification, agroecological and other innovative approaches…".

What are you the most proud of in terms of the ACP MEAs 3 contribution?

KT: What is important is not so much this COP but its outcomes and what we can do afterwards. ACP MEAs is about providing support and building capacity so that countries can implement the CBD. So that's what we are here for: to see the dynamics, what to expect, and how we can take it further.

Following up on CBD COP15, we will be supporting countries in revising their national biodiversity strategies and action plans based on the new Framework that will be adopted here, and we've been laying the groundwork beforehand to ensure that this revision process includes experts from the agricultural domain.

This is innovative, because when the previous Framework was adopted, the national strategies were largely developed by people with an environmental background. The agricultural community was involved, but not in an institutionalised manner.

What the ACP MEAs project is trying to do is to implement coordinating mechanisms between the domains of agriculture and the environment, so that biodiversity for agriculture experts are included in the revision process from the beginning. In the future, this will become a given.