Agricultural Biodiversity

Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition

Partners and Relevant Initiatives


Major partners

The cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition is being jointly developed by the CBD and its partners, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Bioversity International (Bioversity).

FAO leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts -- to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. FAO's mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy.

Bioversity International is an international research institute with a mandate to advance the conservation and use of genetic diversity for the well-being of present and future generations. It is a Centre of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Bioversity’s vision is that people today and in the future enjoy greater well-being through increased incomes, sustainably improved food security and nutrition, and greater environmental health, made possible by conservation and the deployment of agricultural biodiversity on farms and in forests.

Key partners and initiatives

Intergovernmental organizations
Under the proposed framework of the biodiversity for food and nutrition initiative, the intergovernmental organizations listed below, and others, are encouraged to include biodiversity-related considerations in the implementation of their programmes and strategies.

  • FAO/UNU International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS)
    INFOODS promotes the need for identifying and disseminating cultivar-specific nutrient profiles of food plants and animals. INFOODS research has demonstrated the micronutrient superiority of some lesser-known or wild cultivars over widely-utilized cultivars, lending support to links between biodiversity and nutrition.
  • The FAO Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS)
    FIVIMs are data systems that assemble, analyse and disseminate information on who the food insecure are, where they are located, and why they are food insecure, nutritionally vulnerable or at risk.
    Government and other international and national institutions