As governments, companies and researchers gather at biodiversity COP16 in Cali, the need to halt biodiversity loss has never been greater. Food and agricultural systems are responsible for major historic and ongoing declines in biodiversity, often with negative feedbacks on nutrition, yields, pest control, soil health, and climate resilience. Yet food and agricultural systems can be managed differently and reorientated towards a positive trajectory compatible with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)’s vision of a future where biodiversity thrives
The Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-use and Energy (FABLE) consortium brings countries together to identify pathways for achieving national and global biodiversity, food, climate and development goals in tandem. Results from FABLE show that achieving at least three targets (1, 3, 10) in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) depends on how food systems are managed between now and 2050.
Our position paper, launched this week to coincide with COP16, highlights that ambitious changes in diets, closing yield gaps and replacing unproductive crops, accelerated adoption of agroecological practices, and widespread restoration and protection, would bring the world closer to achieving global biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets by 2050, without compromising food and nutritional security. The paper provides four recommendations for Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on how to achieve these changes through well-aligned National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Land Degradation Neutrality targets, and rural development plans.