Sustainable family farming practices: cultivating biodiversity for resilience

Join us for a high-level webinar cohosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment of France (INRAE) to learn about the challenges and opportunities for promoting more sustainable agricultural practices and approaches to help halt the unprecedented decline of biodiversity across the globe. Achieving food security and nutrition for all depends on biodiversity, which generates multiple livelihood benefits. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are essential for sustainable agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries. They enable sustainable production in all of the agricultural sectors. Biodiversity also makes production systems and livelihoods more resilient to economic, social and environmental shocks and stresses, including the mounting effects of climate change. The impacts of climate change to biodiversity present an unparalleled threat to the future of food security and nutrition. Despite global efforts spanning several decades, biodiversity continues to be eroded at an alarming pace, leading to the call for biodiversity mainstreaming across all sectors. FAO's State of the World Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Report, 2019 and other global assessments present mounting and worrying evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is rapidly disappearing by the day – putting the future of our food, livelihoods, health and environment under severe threat. The reports warn that once lost, species and biodiversity for food and agriculture cannot be recovered. Yet there are signs of hope in many countries around the world. In fact, biodiversity-friendly practices are on the rise, yet these efforts needs to be intensified, vastly scaled up and better coordinated. The knowledge, technologies and practices already exist that can make agriculture and the broader food system more biodiversity friendly. The high-level webinar will examine what actions and policies are needed to bring about a world where agriculture and food systems reduce their negative impacts on, and make the best use of the potential of biological diversity and ecosystems, and contribute to the conservation, sustainable use, management and restoration of biodiversity, ensuring food security and nutrition for present and future generations and supporting livelihoods.