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The “Bees and Farmers” Tour Meets Pope Francis

On September 8, representatives of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Save Bees and Farmers” met with Pope Francis in Rome, thus concluding their week-long “Bees and Farmers” tour in 8 different Italian cities, to promote the initiative to save pollinators, biodiversity and those who culti ...

The world's most unwanted plants help trees make more fruit

Keeping the spark alive is hard in any relationship. It's especially hard for fruit trees trying to attract pollinators.

The world is facing profound challenges to meet the future needs for food of a growing population.

The post-2020 CAP can play a crucial role in restoring nature

This autumn, European policymakers negotiating the post-2020 common agricultural policy must ensure that the final policy framework can reward farmers and landowners for nature restoration and the public goods that this provides. We know that global biodiversity loss is accelerating an unprecede ...

The planet produces more than enough food, just not the kind people need

By the numbers, humans produce a lot of food—enough to provide every person on Earth 2,750 calories per day, exceeding almost all dietary recommendations.

The pandemic is just another sign of our broken food system

As many as 265 million people around the world are suffering from food insecurity and possible starvation, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Food Programme has warned of widespread famines “of Biblical proportions” and its latest report is a stark reminder of the disconnects in our ...

The nitrogen dilemma: can we reduce fertilisers and still feed the world?

When nitrogen-based fertiliser runs into water systems it can result in toxic algae blooms, leading to oxygen depletion and vast oceanic ‘dead zones’. Evidence suggests their use also contributes to air pollution, increased rates of cancer and reduced biodiversity, as well as emitting nitrous ox ...

The next agricultural revolution is here

As a growing population and climate change threaten food security, researchers around the world are working to overcome the challenges that threaten the dietary needs of humans and livestock. A pair of scientists is now making the case that the knowledge and tools exist to facilitate the next ag ...

The key to food security in Africa lies in the treasure trove of global crop biodiversity

Global plant diversity could be a lifeline for food security in sub-Saharan Africa, finds a new study. The analysis reveals that replacing some at-risk African food crops with more resilient crops from other parts of the world, as well as tapping the huge genetic diversity of crop wild relatives ...

The international community has long recognized the interdependence of all countries with regard to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and their relevance to FAO as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing. Our interrelated goals regarding conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources builds bridges for synergistic work between the Treaty and the Convention.

The inconvenient truths behind the 'Planetary Health' diet

Can we eat our way not only to better health, but also to a better planet? That is the question addressed by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems (PDF), which launched its global Planetary Health dietary recommendations at the United Nations.

The importance of the (wild) bee and what you can do to help!

The bee is a special creature: of great importance for the conservation of biodiversity and our food. But why does the bee play such an important role and what can you do to help it? Nienke Vennik – editor for Slow Food Netherlands – interviewed a local beekeeper and found out.

The huge potential of agriculture to slow climate change

Soil’s contribution to climate change, through the oxidation of soil carbon, is important, and soils—and thus agriculture—can play a major role in mitigating climate change.

The good old ways: can we still farm like our grandparents?

Mary Ankers is back on the farm. In every direction there is a memory of her childhood. Everything had involved being outside. Jumping on hay bales, bottle-feeding newly born calves and sitting on the back of the trailer with her two older brothers during harvesting.

The global race for groundwater speeds up to feed agriculture's growing needs

Water is becoming a scarce resource in many parts of the world. Water tables have been falling in many regions for decades, particularly in areas with intensive agriculture. Wells are going dry and there are few long-term solutions available —a common stopgap has been to drill deeper wells.

The future of tequila: How clones, bats and biodiversity will help agave survive

It’s no secret that Texans like tequila. In fact, it’s a point of pride. Between patio margaritas, rooftop palomas and late-night shots, we consumed a little more than 18 million liters of the agave-based spirit in 2018. That accounts for a respectable one-ninth of the entire country’s consumpti ...

The future of food: scientists, chefs, dietitians on the push for a radical new diet

Scientists have recently advocated a shift to the planetary health diet (or flexitarianism) to halt the widespread environmental damage done by the food production industry. But what would these new diets look like in practice and how much of a change do they entail?

The future of agriculture: why unis must prepare students to secure both our food and our planet

Agriculture will soon be worth A$100 billion a year to Australia. The industry employs more than 250,000 people, stewards 80% of our land area and drives world-class agribusiness and food sectors. In an uncertain employment market, every new agriculture graduate has a choice of six job opportuni ...

The forward movement of organic growth

When Antony John first started growing organic produce on a quarter acre of land for restaurants near his farm in Stratford, Ontario, he met with the perplexed reactions of loan officers at the bank. “They were willing to lend us money, but you had to prove yourself to them every year with a cas ...

The end of farming?

In the last years of the 20th century, Glenfeshie, a 17,000-hectare estate in the Scottish Highlands, was in steep decline. Decades of overgrazing by deer had reduced its hillsides to clipped lifelessness.

The dark side of Italian hazelnut farming

As Italian hazelnut plantations expand to cater to our love of chocolate and nougat, they are leaving a bitter aftertaste on local soil, water and air.As the early morning mist clears to reveal the turrets of San Quirico Castle in central Italy, the greenery surrounding local farmhouses comes al ...

The brilliance of brown lawns: why your grass shouldn’t always be greener

Watering our gardens is wasteful and mowing them a nightmare for biodiversity. So is it time to embrace long, brown grass or more radical options such as patchwork lawns?

The Wisdom of Seeds

Have you noticed that raw carrots and celery that you buy from the grocery store are a bit tougher, requiring greater bite power than say a decade ago? This may be because those veggies have been genetically engineered to produce tougher stalks. Stiffer carrots, for instance, can be yanked from ...

The Way Forward to Strengthen National Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Capacity

9 - 11 February 2005, Rome, Italy

The US food system creates hunger and debt – but there is another way

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, says the US food system is built on injustices but there is hope where people are prioritizing the right to food

The State of Food and Agriculture 2020: Overcoming water challenges in agriculture

More than three billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high levels of water shortages and scarcity, and almost half of them face severe constraints. Furthermore, available freshwater resources per person have declined by more than 20 percent over the past two decades, unders ...

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Discuss Enhanced Collaboration

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Discuss Enhanced Collaboration

Montreal – 5 November 2007. In order to discuss ways and means to enhance collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Executive Secretary of the Convention, Mr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, met with Mr. Jacque ...

The Honey Olive Grove: A Sustainable Solution

It has been launched on the EU platform, Climate Innovation Window, which embeds the EU Horizon2020 project BRIGAID, aimed at effectively bridging the gap between innovators, investors and end-users in resilience to floods, droughts and extreme weather.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), today released a technical document that provides guidance on mainstreaming ecosystem services and biodiversity into agricultural production and management in the Pacific Islands.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have launched a technical guidance document which aims to promote mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services into agriculture through national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs), and thereby contribute towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

The European Search For A Strategy To Help Both Farmers And Biodiversity

European Union member states are trying to adopt more sustainable agriculture practices, amid debates over subsidies and protests from the sector.

The Critical Need for Smart Agriculture for Truly Smarter Cities

Smart cities are developing all over the world, marketing themselves as helping us innovate and become more technologically advanced as a mostly-urban species.

The BCPC International Congress - Crop Science & Technology 2003

10 - 12 November 2003, Glasgow, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The 'agricultural mafia' taking over Brazil's Amazon rainforest

Encouraged by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and local authorities who want to see the development of agribusiness, an "agricultural mafia" is taking over the Amazon rainforest.

Technical Consultation on Biological Risk Management in Food and Agriculture

13 - 17 January 2003, Bangkok, Thailand

Table for 10 Billion? Leaders to Unlock More Sustainable and Equitable Food Future

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated vulnerabilities in food systems – highlighting the insecurity of rural livelihoods, the tragedy of food waste, and stark inequities in access to healthy food. As the global population races to 10 billion, more needs to be done to feed the planet while tackling ...

TEEB for Agriculture & Food

The ‘TEEB for Agriculture & Food’ project will ultimately seek to provide a comprehensive economic evaluation of the ‘eco-agri-food systems’ complex. In so doing, the study will demonstrate that the economic environment in which farmers operate is significantly distorted by externalities, both n ...

Sustainable trade as a means to protect biodiversity

“There’s a rang-tan in my bedroom and I don’t know what to do,” the small girl says. The rang tang replies, “there’s a human in my forest and I don’t know what to do.” Does this ring a bell? It originates from an advertisement of a British supermarket chain, subsequently banned from television i ...

Sustainable agriculture is the future of farming – here’s why

It’s time to burst the bubble of the rural-urban divide: When it comes to competing against forces of gentrification and big agribusiness in the name of food equity, small farmers and urban farms have a lot in common. Here’s how two agricultural entrepreneurs are working toward common ground in ...

Sustainable agriculture for enhancing biodiversity in eco-tone by using rice based ecosystem

Various cases using rice paddies wisely and sustainably and to promote biodiversity in agricultural land and suggestions for the policies from many regions and various institutions will be disclosed. It will propose a forgotten role of agricultural land for the biodiversity.

Sustainable Soil Management with Spectroscopy

Modern agricultural research is focused on how to feed the future population of the world. Year on year, farmers aim to generate a greater amount of food from the same resources and quickly changing environmental conditions only increase the pressure for international food supply.

Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020

4 - 6 September 2001, Bonn, Germany

Sustainable Agriculture And A Low Carbon Future: Are We Missing Out On Mycelium?

While the world is waking up to the importance of ecosystems, and soil health, it seems that one of the most fundamental building blocks of soil, the fungal network, has been pretty much ignored to date.

Survey pegs 1.5% of world's farmland under organic cultivation

Organic farming may not be mainstream yet, but it has rapidly grown in stature in the last two decades, according to a new survey. There has been a more than five-fold increase in the acreage of land under organic cultivation since the turn of the millenium.

Sugar: a killer crop?

The delicious, sweet powder currently poses two major threats to our health and happiness. First, eating too much sugar contributes to the development of some of the world's biggest killers, including heart disease and diabetes.

Subregional dialogue on national biodiversity strategies and action plans for Caribbean countries

15 - 17 April 2024, Georgetown, Guyana

Submission of views on draft terms of reference for the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Sustainable Use in Agriculture and Forestry

Reference: SCBD/STTM/JM/TC/MJS/71871 (2010-115)
To: CBD National Focal Points and relevant organizations

I am pleased to invite you to send your views on the enclosed draft terms of reference for an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Agriculture and Forestry under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to the CBD Secretariat at your earliest convenien ...

Submission of information regarding the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators

Reference: SCBD/SPS/DC/SBG/MK/86418 (2017-030)
To: CBD National Focal Points and SBSTTA Focal Points, other Governments and relevant organizations

Submission of information – national survey on soil biodiversity assessment

Reference: SCBD/SSSF/AS/SBG/CC/88240 (2019-065)
To: CBD National Focal Points and SBSTTA Focal Points