Missing the Mark? Biodiversity Targets Risk Failure without Agroecology

This hybrid COP15 side-event, cohosted by IATP, brings forward evidence in support of agroecology as a fundamental basis for a global biodiversity strategy. Read the policy brief in English, en español and en français. 

Location:

COP15 Venue — Business and Industry Organizations Meeting Room (room 514A) and via Livestream

Livestream:

Livestream link coming soon. 

Registration:

Register here. 

Hosted by:

African Biodiversity Network, African Centre for Biodiversity, Agropolis Foundation, Biovision Foundation, Coventry University Centre for Water and Resilience (CAWR), Cultivate!, EcoNexus, Friends of the Earth International, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Latin American Scientific Society for Agroecology (SOCLA), Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (Canada), UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability Studies, and University of Vermont.

Description: 

This COP15 side-event brings forward the latest evidence in support of agroecology — with a strong focus on agricultural biodiversity and within the framework of food sovereignty — as a fundamental basis for a global biodiversity strategy and essential to the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Agroecology across mixed and diverse landscapes is a pathway for the global community to avoid ineffective “fortress conservation” approaches that have proven to have limited impact and in many situations lead to systematic violations of local communities’ rights. It can help to reconnect humans and nature as unified systems and offer pathways for just and resilient food systems. It is clear that without a strong focus on agroecology, our global targets for biodiversity conservation are bound to miss the mark.

Three quarters of our biological diversity in food and agriculture has been destroyed over the past century due to rapid expansion of industrial and inequitable farming models that homogenize our genetic basis, deforest and degrade land, and rely extensively on external and polluting inputs to maintain artificial productive levels.

Our biodiversity crisis will only be solved if these dysfunctional food systems are profoundly transformed. There is compelling evidence that agroecological approaches offer viable pathways for this much needed transformation. Agroecology maintains a central focus on ecosystem diversity, agricultural biodiversity, and is deeply rooted in traditional knowledges and the foodways of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Interest in agroecology has grown rapidly across many sectors, and is now embraced by donor agencies, governments, research institutions and civil society organizations around the world. Agroecological approaches are gaining centre stage as a way to address the interconnected biodiversity, ecological, food security, and health crises facing humanity today.

Both the IPBES Global Assessment Report and the IPCC Special Report underscore agroecology as an effective strategy for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, building multifunctional, resilient food systems. Despite these strong affirmations, discussions at the CBD about the role of agroecology for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources have been fraught with disagreement, and disconnected from the growing momentum for agroecology globally. Agricultural biodiversity, despite having a dedicated program of work, has been marginalized within CBD negotiations. Agroecology and agricultural biodiversity are largely absent from GBF.

This side event will also shine a light on emerging coalitions and policy actions that are linking agroecology and agricultural biodiversity, as crucial pathways to transform food systems.

REGISTER HERE. 

Read the policy brief in English, en español and en français.