Second Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Mainstreaming across Agricultural Sectors in Europe and Central Asia: Accelerating national action

Panel discussion: intersectoral collaboration and stakeholders’ involvement in the updating and revision of NBSAPs  

Background information

Biodiversity and resilience. Interlinked climate change and biodiversity-related crises are among the greatest short-term and long-term risks in the world today. Given that at least half of the world’s economic output depends on nature, this means our food and livelihood security are fundamentally compromised. For both crises, agrifood systems are both part of the problem (being responsible for more than 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, 70 percent of freshwater use and 80 percent of land conversion) and part of the solution. In the face of increasing pollution and land degradation, rising demand for water and food production, and growing urbanization and industrial development, the restoration, conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity are critical to addressing global environmental challenges, building our resilience to multiple shocks and enhancing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.  

New Global Biodiversity Framework. Affirming that the conservation of biological diversity is a common concern of humankind, the United Nations proclaimed 22 May the International Day for Biological Diversity. This year’s theme, “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity,” aims at promoting action in support of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which sets 23 targets to be delivered by 2030. Accomplishing these targets will require active involvement and action from the food and agricultural sectors, the mainstreaming of biodiversity across countries’ sectoral policies, and the enhancement of synergies at national levels among all relevant conventions and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, and with the interest of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, youth and other marginalized groups.

National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans. In decision 15/6, COP15 requested that countries revise and update their national biodiversity strategies and action plans in alignment with the Global Biodiversity Framework goals and targets before the COP16 meeting takes place. As the new framework recognizes the underpinning role of agricultural sectors in its successful implementation, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food and agriculture need to be more strongly integrated into National biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) and mainstreamed within relevant sectoral and intersectoral plans and policy instruments across broader sectors. Endorsed during COP15, the Plan of Action (2020–2030) for the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity acknowledges the key role of soil biodiversity in sustainable agroecosystems to ensure food and nutrition security, with climate change mitigation and adaptation co-benefits, and encourages countries to develop public policies and integrate soil biodiversity considerations within and across productive sectors. 

Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Biodiversity mainstreaming in the region is strongly linked with the promotion and strengthening of sustainable agrifood practices, in which nature-based solutions and the FAO Programme for Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) have a key role to play. They are live laboratories of more sustainable agricultural practices and working examples of more resilient socioecological systems, bringing multiple benefits for biodiversity, climate change adaptation, and food and livelihood security. With this in hand, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is equipped to incentivize regional transitions to sustainable agriculture and assist countries in raising their ambitions and strengthening their commitments to biodiversity for food and agriculture in their updated National biodiversity strategies and action plans to accelerate the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.