The Agrobiodiversity Index

The challenge: Food systems are failing

We need to transform our food systems – what we eat and what we grow.

In today’s complex and interconnected world, what we eat and how we produce it are inextricably bound to the health of people and the planet. A focus on increasing food production without due regard for the environment is causing severe land and water degradation. A focus on addressing hunger without regard for nutritious diets is contributing to an epidemic of heart disease and diabetes. A focus on increasing yields in a few staple foods is contributing to loss of food diversity.

The solution: Increase agrobiodiversity in diets, markets and production systems

A sustainable food system cannot exist without agrobiodiversity.

Agrobiodiversity is the foundation of sustainable food systems. It boosts total productivity and quality of nutrition in the diet. It increases resilience, soil health and water quality while reducing the need for water, synthetic fertilizers and other costly inputs. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to less diverse farms.

Few decision-makers – governments, investors and companies – have welldeveloped policies to mainstream agrobiodiversity in food systems. In a review of 119 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, only 30% include detailed actions for agrobiodiversity conservation and use.

Without making better use of agrobiodiversity, we will struggle to meet internationally agreed targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Targets.

There is currently no agreed, standard way of measuring agrobiodiversity in diets, food production or genetic resources, nor ways of asking how other activities affect agrobiodiversity.

Decision-makers lack a set of concrete actions that they can implement to make food systems more sustainable through increased agrobiodiversity. These gaps also extend to measuring progress on how agrobiodiversity is delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Targets.

What does the Agrobiodiversity Index measure?

The Agrobiodiversity Index measures:

• Status – Provides the current state of agrobiodiversity using 7 indicators that measure diversity of crops, crop wild relatives, fish, livestock and pollinators at different levels (varietal and genetic, species, farm, landscape, ecosystem).
• Commitments – Using 21 indicators, assesses the level of commitment towards an agrobiodiversity outcome (e.g. maintaining livestock varietal diversity) in publicly available strategies, policies, declarations, guidelines for the country, company or project under review.
• Actions – Using 5 indicators, monitors policies, investments and practices at the institutional, production or market level that support biodiversity in food and agriculture.

These three levels of measurement will provide each country, company or project, scores for the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity that will be displayed as maps and graphs on an interactive portal, along with a short summary of how performance compares with other countries, companies or projects.