Agroecology Dialogue Series held two sessions in September

15 September 2022 - Second session of the Agroecology Dialogue Series: “Beyond the farm: Exploring the synergies between the agroecology and conservation communities.”

This dialogue intended to connect the conservation and agroecology communities to explore opportunities and limitations of agroecology to address conservation needs beyond the farm. Thus, it looked beyond classical on-farm conservation angles (e.g. conservation of local crop varieties and crop wild relatives). Instead, it discussed the contributions of agroecology to mitigate species decline and ecosystem degradation in the landscape, which are less explicitly recognised within existing narratives of the agroecology or conservation communities. The dialogue identified concrete pathways to increase synergies between the agroecology and conservation communities in food system transformation through policy reform, knowledge creation and investment.

29September 2022 - Third session of the Agroecology Dialogue Series: “Agroecology as an approach for increasing resilience to agricultural input scarcity.”

This dialogue reflected on the current global food crisis and the looming scarcity of agricultural inputs. Record prices in fertilizers, supply chain interruption, increasing dependence on synthetic agricultural inputs and on a handful of suppliers have underlined the urgency of food system transformation. As a result, a number of countries are committing to reducing their dependence on synthetic inputs. The current crisis creates opportunities to advance food systems transformation through agroecology. The dialogue thus promoted a better understanding of concrete implementation steps and pathways to increase the resilience of food systems to agricultural inputs scarcity through agroecological approaches, in the areas of policy reform, knowledge creation and investments.

More on the Agroecology Dialogues

The Agroecology Dialogue Series is an initiative of FAO and the Biovision Foundation to support the Coalition for food systems transformation through Agroecology (Agroecology Coalition).

These dialogues build on the past efforts to connect agroecology and biodiversity conservation topics (e.g., CFS 49 side event, FAO events). Various frameworks have been outlined to advance either agroecological food system transformation and/or biodiversity conservation: (e.g., post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), commitments on achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), implementation of the UN Decade of Ecosystem restoration, and the CFS’ Policy Recommendations on Agroecological and other Innovative Approaches). The potential of these efforts for transforming our food systems will depend on synergies and collaborative action, evidence mobilization, an enabling policy environment, and the increased availability of resources. At the same time, there are growing concerns that competing interests from conservation approaches might negate the upscale of agroecological approaches.

Related links:

FAO work on Agroecology Knowledge Hub