The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly met last week in Da Nang, Viet Nam. The Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific,Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) convenes this week in Montreal, Canada. At both meetings, Bioversity International was in attendance to highlight the importance of agricultural biodiversity for the future well-being of the planet and the people who live on it.
Bioversity International has championed agricultural biodiversity for as long as we have been in existence, and this work is being increasingly recognized globally. I was recently asked to be an International Ambassador for the Food and Land Use Coalition, a role I relish because I share the Coalition’s vision of food and land use systems that create new economic value while simultaneously protecting natural resources, addressing climate change, enhancing nutrition and improving the livelihoods of farmers everywhere. Indeed, it is testimony to the shared goals of Bioversity International and the Coalition that fellow Ambassadors include Bioversity International board members and colleagues, while the Coalition’s Director of Science is Bioversity International Scientist, Fabrice DeClerck.