Side Event

TEEB for Agriculture & Food

Organizer
UNEP TEEB

Date and Time
7 October 2014 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

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 negative and positive, and a lack of awareness of dependency on natural capital. The central argument is that a ‘double-whammy’ of economic invisibility of impacts from both ecosystems and agricultural & food systems is a root cause of increased fragility and lower resilience to shocks in both ecological and human systems. The desired endpoint is to inform and encourage policy change toward a more secure, more equitable and more sustainable environment along the entire chain of food and agricultural production. A ‘First Information Report’ will first set out to provide new and compelling (but balanced and science-based) evidence from both primary research and meta-analyses. A ‘Scientific and Economic Foundations’ report will then address the core theoretical issues and controversies underpinning the evaluation of the nexus between the agri-food sector, biodiversity and ecosystem services and externalities from agriculture on a global scale. In essence it will seek to set the theoretical context for the evaluation of policy implementation. A ‘Policies, Production and Consumption’ report will by definition focus on the evaluation of different agro-ecological production systems and policies in different socio-economic contexts. Since TEEBAg&Food concerns not only agriculture but entire food systems as well, the report will also consider food policies, including those targeting food waste and food safety along the entire food chain, from production to final disposal, as well as food quality in nutritional terms. Finally, the outcomes and key findings of these three reports will shape the messaging and recommendations of a final ‘Synthesis’ report.