Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes

European Business & Biodiversity Campaign - News

Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes

The recently released 'Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes' features Bioversity International's contributions to supporting agricultural biodiversity as it seeks to integrate biodiversity considerations into policies, strategies and practices.

Bioversity International has been collaborating with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) on a series of initiatives that have made a major contribution to supporting agricultural biodiversity. Several of these along with other projects involving other organizations are highlighted in the newly released Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes publication. This report summarizes key achievements of projects on mainstreaming conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity into production systems that UN Environment has undertaken through a diverse portfolio of GEF-supported initiatives in over 36 countries, many of which in collaboration with Bioversity International.

The Crop Wild Relatives project is one example of an initiative by Bioversity International included in the publication. This initiative created a global portal that provides access to national inventories and information on crop wild relatives at the global level. The portal includes results of the assessments of the distribution, conservation status and values of crop wild relatives.

Supporting agricultural biodiversity is of global importance to food production and provision of ecosystem services. The Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Strategic Plan and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals all recognize the importance of ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in production systems. The projects described in this publication contribute directly to the CBD’s Aichi Targets and to the SDGs, and support the CBD’s Programme of Work on Agricultural Biodiversity.

Production landscapes are areas where humans grow crops, breed livestock or manage forests, but where biodiversity has been undervalued or neglected for too long. Central to mainstreaming in production landscapes is ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity. Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into production landscapes is recognized as a key strategy to secure the objectives of the CBD and as a major objective for projects supported by the Global Environment Facility. The publication seeks to integrate biodiversity considerations into the policies, strategies and practices that impact, or depend, on biodiversity.

Report: Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes

Source: Press Release Biodiversity International, 5.12.2018
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