Small-scale agriculture is the key to meeting CBD goals

Q: How is your work relevant to the CBD COP 11 agenda?

A: I work on the way that agrarian communities manage biodiversity as part of their livelihood strategies. Part of that includes their culture - how they view and define biodiversity and how they divide it up and share it. My work also involves topics such as ethanol botany, common property, institutions, and collective action. These are all key parts of the discussions and decisions being made here in Hyderabad.

A: Sustainable use has always been part of the CBD. However, sustainable use did not explicitly include agricultural biodiversity at the outset. Agriculture was once seen within the conservation world as a major threat to biodiversity. Within the agricultural world, many of the problems we face – such as providing cheap and adequate food - were seen as something that could be achieved without biodiversity. Within conservation and agricultural development, there has been a lot of progress in changing that which is a very positive outcome after 20 years.

Q: But how can agriculture and conservation work together to achieve common goals?

A: The CBD has a strategic objective to mainstream biodiversity into larger production landscapes. Agriculture that is compatible with conservation in protected areas is one way to extend the sustainable use of biodiversity into agriculture more generally.

At Bioversity International, we work to increase the use of agricultural biodiversity at the ecosystem, species and genetic level. We are working in several protected areas in Eastern Kenya, in the Himalayas in Nepal, and West Africa, where a large body of evidence is building on how farmers use biodiversity to adapt within resilient landscapes. 

I also work Initiatives such as Landscapes for People, Food and Nature and UNESCO Worldwide Man and Biosphere Reserves  [2], which cover over 160 countries. Many of the world’s protected areas contain unique agricultural biodiversity, such as crop wild relatives and traditional varieties, sustained through farming. The fact that these farming systems have been there over 100 years and we still consider these areas worthy of protection means that agriculture hasn’t been doing such a bad job. 

Q: Can you describe the importance of agricultural biodiversity to the Aichi targets? 

Many of the twenty Aichi targets  [3] strongly relate to the sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and maintaining biodiversity within ecosystems so that society as a whole can continue to receive the benefits and services of biodiversity. These Aichi Targets cannot be met without including agricultural biodiversity and small-scale farming systems as part of the solution.

For example, one target says 17% of terrestrial surface should be under some form of protected area, but obviously there is not 17% of the world left that is uninhabited by people, who are dependent on the land for food and resources such as fuel wood and medicine. I think small-scale agriculture is the best possible use of this land for supporting and maintaining biodiversity.

In relation to targets on the conservation of crop wild relatives and sustainable agriculture, aquaculture & forestry, I think policymakers need to acknowledge that many of these three separate ‘sectors’ can occur simultaneously within a single farm, and therein lies the solution.

Q: Why do you think biodiversity should be supported by governments and donors?

A: Simply because the current forms of agro-industrial farming are rapidly exhausting the resources they need. A major change in agricultural practices, toward dependency and synergies with natural processes, is needed to feed future populations. 

Secondly, people are concerned with the health and quality of their food. In this regard, healthier foods come from healthy ecosystems, which depend on biodiversity. 

And finally, by emphasising agricultural biodiversity, the public can better understand how central biodiversity is to their daily lives and welfare.

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Further reports from our scientists at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity can be found here  [4].

Interview by guest blogger Kara Brown.