This side event will discuss how making the economic case for pro-nature policies to achieve food systems transformation is aligned with the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. It will do this through the lens of the ongoing European Union funded The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEBAgriFood) application in China and six other countries (Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and Thailand). 

 

There are myriad positive and negative impacts and dependencies within food systems that routinely and systematically are neither recognized nor captured in decision-making, and yet they impact upon nature, biodiversity, ecosystems and their ability to sustain livelihoods. By evaluating and then valuing these impacts and dependencies an economic case can be made for pro-nature policy interventions.

 

TEEB is a UNEP-hosted global initiative launched at the G8+5 Potsdam Meeting of Environment Ministers in 2007. TEEB an important partner in implementing the CBD programme of work on incentive measures, and in particular its work on valuation. The TEEB approach focuses on the use of economic valuation to inform policies for the conservation, restoration, sustainable use and management of nature’s contribution to people.

 

The importance of ‘measuring what matters’ is most pertinent in the agri-food sector. Agriculture is highly dependent on nature, and specifically on well-functioning ecosystems. Globally, food systems are now the source of 60% of terrestrial biodiversity loss, 24% of greenhouse gas emissions, 33% of soil degradation, overfishing of 29% commercial fish populations and over-exploitation of 20% of the world's aquifers. Moreover, agriculture is a significant source of jobs and livelihoods – especially those of women – and social and cultural identities, as well as determining the health and nutrition of growing global populations.

 

TEEB has developed the TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework that provides a comprehensive and universal approach to capture all these impacts and dependencies. The Framework was recognized with the Future Policy Vision Award 2018, awarded by the World Future Council in partnership with FAO and IFOAM – Organics International.

 

The TEEBAgriFood application aligns with and supports relevant policies in its scoping countries, including China's national strategy on 'ecological civilization" and the China Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2011-2030) and the application of Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) as an alternative to GDP. It is also in line with a number of key policy areas of the European Union, including the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, Farm to Fork Strategy, Food 2030 and the Circular Economy Action Plan. The application in China considers combinations of different agricultural policies in the national "Green is Gold" practice innovation base Tengchong City, Yunnan Province, including chemicals use reduction, under-canopy plantation, combined planting-breeding, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction and control, taking into account both visible and invisible costs and benefits.

 

To promote food systems transformation requires not only national/regional government but also the agri-food business community. In the case of the latter, it is often in a firm’s best interests (commercially vis-à-vis profitability) to select pro-nature options, but if and only if such options are assessed fully with regards to impacts and dependencies on nature and society – which is often not the case. In 2020, TEEBAgriFood Operational Guidelines for business were launched, going beyond existing guidance for business by considering the interdependencies between nature and people in the food value chain. Under the current EU-funded project, the Capitals Coalition has been organizing agri-Business roundtables and training sessions pave the way for agri-business to measure and manage not just their impacts on nature and thereby grow the evidence base to incorporate systems-thinking in business decision-making grows. A Capitals China Hub has been established to work with 13 other Capital Coalition hubs across the globe.

 

Key questions for discussion:

 

TEEBAgriFood is a form of what is called ‘True Value’ or True Cost Accounting for the public and private sectors. An outcome of the UN Food Systems Summit was the True Value Coalition, and True Cost Accounting will be the theme of the next State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report in 2023. To what extent do you think we need to think about metrics and a Framework such as the TEEBAgriFood Framework to measure our impacts and dependencies on nature?

 

What are the challenges and opportunities for integrating multiple values into policies at all levels of government and corporate decision-making in the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework?

 

Speakers (Moderator [tbc])

1. Opening remarks

[…], United Nations Environment Programme

[…], Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China

[…], Chinese Academy of Sciences

[…], European Union

2. Panel discussions

Linxiu Zhang, Director, UNEP-IEMP

Mark Gough, CEO, Capitals Coalition

[…] Rabobank

Weidong Zhou, Director of China Office, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

[…], Pu'er Municipal Government, China

[…], China Shengmu Organic Milk Company