Issue : 1 Article : 2
Cultivating a Healthy, Bio-diverse Food System: Bringing Agricultural Biodiversity into the Centre of CBD Implementation
Patrick Mulvany, European Network for Ecological Reflection and Action (ECOROPA), patrickmulvany@clara.co.uk
[In November 2015, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) held its 19thTechnical Meeting (so-called SBSTTA ) in preparation for the next Conference of the Parties(COP) in December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico. The agenda was sorely lacking any clear attention to the key issue of agricultural biodiversity. A Civil Society Organisation delegation, led by the CBD Alliance, was present during this technical meeting and the associated meeting on Traditional Knowledge, Innovations and Practices (ref: Article 8j of the Convention). It published its CSO newsletter, ECO. The following is based on the lead article in ECO for 2 November 2015, the first day of the meeting. The original newsletter can be found here. After a CBD Alliance meeting with the Executive Secretary of the CBD, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, we are confident that the CBD will reinstate the implementation of agricultural biodiversity decisions as a major action for the Convention.]
Mexico, the Centre of Origin of maize/corn and a host of other vital foods for humanity wants ‘mainstreaming’ of biodiversity to be the centrepiece of the next Conference of Parties (COP). Perhaps, the greatest ‘mainstreaming’ challenge for society is in ensuring that the regeneration of biodiversity is embedded in policy and practice in places where our food comes from, in the model of production used by those who produce it and in providing all citizens with healthy, diverse foods. The present SBSTTA can help make this happen. Let “mainstreaming” build on what delivers and not leave out those at the heart of our food system, the women and men peasants, producers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers, forest dwellers, indigenous people and local communities and all other rural and urban small-scale food providers. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has been in forefront of defending agricultural biodiversity. In 1996, its landmark Decision (COP III/11) set the scene – that the CBD’s “activities … should focus on the interface between agricultural sustainability and environmental issues and should promote the integration of social, economic and environmental objectives”.
Recognising that“traditional farming communities and their agricultural practices have made a significant contribution to the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity and that these can make an important contribution to the development of environmentally sound agricultural production systems”, theDecision elaborates further:
“Agro-ecological forms of intensification can… blend improved knowledge about agricultural ecosystems, intercropping, uses of diverse species, integrated pest management and the efficient use of resources. Beneficial mixes of land use also raise the overall level of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.” (ref: Annex 1 of the Decision III/11)
After twenty years, with eight further Decisions on Agricultural Biodiversity, numerous related Decisions, and with issues relating to food and agriculture embedded in the majority of the CBD’s 20 Aichi targets, it will be the time in 2016 to examine the CBD’s scorecard on implementation.
Also, beyond the CBD, the world has moved on for a generation. Society has recognised the imperativeness of sustainable development (SDG goals), the urgency to include agriculture in measures for mitigation and adaptation to climate change (UNFCCC ), the centrality of including civil society in food and nutrition governance (UN CFS ), the need to assess the state of the world’s biodiversity for food and agriculture (CGRFA ), and the importance of implementation of legally-binding farmers’ rights (ITPGRFA). All these international commitments are intertwined with the aspiration of conservation and sharing of benefits arising from the sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity in order to secure future food.
Yet, little has happened from all these decisions and processes if you consider making a difference in practice: ensuring biodiversity is enhanced above and below ground and in waters; improving biodiversity-based nutrition in the food system; supporting the practices of peasants who produce 70% of our food. For example, in another forum, after a lifetime of negotiation, Liz Matos, the representative of Angola, reflected at the end of the 6th governing body meeting of the International Seed Treaty (ITPGRFA ) in October 2015:"I think can be very frank at this stage… that after all the years since negotiating the Treaty, the coming into force of the Treaty, and, now, its 6 Governing Bodies, my disappointment that the Treaty is NOT, is NOT, fulfilling the space that it was supposed to."
Could this also be said of the CBD? Will it continue to fail to implement its mission and Decisions? Will it allow agricultural biodiversity to continue to suffer from the maw of industrial production, which drives the destruction of biodiversity, and whose chains shackle those who produce our food, those whose proposal to realise food sovereignty with its embedded Right to Food would ensure bio-diverse and healthy food futures for all?
Can the next CBD’s COP in Mexico provide the focus and energy to buck the trend of inertia and make democratic and inclusive implementation a reality? Will the next COP be remembered for the actions taken as a result of its decisions to rein in biodiversity-destroying industrial agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forest production and ‘mainstream’ the innovative, bio-diverse and ecological production systems of the small-scale food providers who feed the world?