Agrobiodiversity is a crucial component of biodiversity. While producing 80% of the food, family farmers and Indigenous Peoples applying agroecology and traditional knowledge, are also the safeguards of 80% of the world’s biodiversity and forests, and the custodians of indigenous and traditional crops. Fostering the traditional knowledge held by family farmers, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities ensure a transformation towards more just, fair and resilient food systems. Agroecology Principles and Elements constitute a holistic approach with multiple co-benefits on biodiversity, climate adaptation and mitigation, and soil health, while providing nutritious food for all.

This side event will tackle how, through agroecology, agrobiodiversity can be sustainably managed and used while promoting nutrition and health. At the country-level, it will showcase how agroecology is as a crucial pathway for countries like Colombia and Brazil which are striving to meet their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), and how it achieves the multiples targets set by the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), including not only Target 10 (sustainable agriculture), but also Target 1 (spatial planning), Target 2 (degraded ecosystems), Target 7 (pollution), Target 8 (climate change), Target 11 (restoration), Target 16 (sustainable consumption), Target 18 (harmful subsidies), Target 20 (knowledge), and Target 21 (participation).

At the local level, it will feature grassroots initiatives demonstrating how agroecology provides a pathway to protect nature, conserve the richness of biodiversity and restore degraded land and ecosystems, while producing healthy, diversified nutritious and culturally appropriate food.

OBJECTIVES

- To highlight agroecology’s critical role in nurturing biodiversity, seed diversity, and traditional knowledge, while ensuring food security and nutrition for all
- To showcase national efforts on the integration of agroecology into NBSAPs from countries such as Colombia and Brazil, advancing the Global Biodiversity Framework targets.
- To demonstrate how Agroecology Coalition members are implementing locally relevant and context-specific initiatives designed to meet biodiversity and nutrition objectives
- To discuss how local initiatives can be supported and scaled up at national level to ensure a wider undertaking of biodiversity, nutrition and health.