About Us

Why agrobiodiversity?

Agrobiodiversity (agricultural biodiversity) is ‘the subset of biodiversity found within agroecosystems (agricultural ecosystems), including the variety and variability of animals, plants, micro-organisms and wild foods at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels, which are necessary to sustain key functions of those agroecosystem’. It is a key component of agroecology and has multiple benefits including: food security and livelihood resilience, nutritional and health benefits, the provision of biomass energy and household materials, preservation of biocultural heritage, and the maintenance of ecosystem services including climate change mitigation.

Agrobiodiversity that enriches nature and nutrition is therefore an essential component of sustainable development. Research shows that smallholder farmers are the guardians of most of the world’s agrobiodiversity as they use and sell many traditional crop varieties, tree products and livestock. This meeting of organized smallholder forest and farm producer organizations (FFPOs), Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) groups aims to highlight the severity of the challenge and advance practical solutions to protect nature and reduce climate change.

The rate of loss of agrobiodiversity is alarming. Of the 6,190 breeds of mammals domesticated historically for food and agriculture, 559 have become extinct (over 9 per cent) and at least 1,000 more are threatened. Of 7000 plant species cultivated historically for food, just 80 now make a major contribution to global food supply, just 9 contribute 66% of total global crop production (sugarcane, maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil-palm fruit, sugar beet and cassava), and half of all plant-based calories come from only three species – rice, maize, and wheat.  While less well documented, the same may be true of other plant-based products such as construction materials, medicines and cosmetic products.

The causes of agrobiodiversity loss include: Changing sources of knowledge (moving away from traditional farming practices and the cultivation of farmers’ varieties/landraces), permanence of monoculture systems, power imbalances in land tenure and market access, the profitability of industrial-scale monocultures, and technological advances at scale that demand uniformity.

International efforts have been made to address the loss of agrobiodiversity, notably in the 20 Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)  but also in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the 2021-2030 UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which is in close alignment with the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF). The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is in discussion to launch the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

Against this background, the goal of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is to support forest and farm producers’ organizations (FFPOs) as the key change agents in delivering climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods. FFF is a partnership hosted by FAO with co-management partners – the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and AgriCord that currently supports FFPOs in 12 partner countries: Bolivia, Ecuador, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Nepal, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam and Zambia, as well as regional and global FFPOs worldwide. Now in its second phase of implementation, and with a budget of USD 56 million, FFF channels funds directly to FFPOs to achieve the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1. Enabling policy and legal frameworks
• Outcome 2. Increased entrepreneurship, access to markets and finance
• Outcome 3. Improved delivery of landscape-scale mitigation, adaptation and climate resilience
• Outcome 4. Improved and equitable access to social protection and cultural services.

FFF also provides support for peer-to-peer thematic learning events, technical training, the co-production of knowledge, communication and advocacy.

Nepal joined FFF in 2012, with activities starting in 2014 and supporting a wide range of FFPOs and IPLC groups spanning 2.9 million households – but with more localised climate resilient policy and value chain support across many different productions systems including essential oils, non-timber products (NTFP), wood and bamboo products, and various agroforestry and agricultural products, such as leaf plate, organic vegetables, cardamom, garlic, bay leaf, ginger, turmeric, pepper, honey, lime, milk and dairy, and chiuri butter. Programme implementation is supported by a programme execution task team comprising FECOFUN, IUCN, the FAO, and MOFE, an advisory committee, a consortium of FFPOs, and a business advisory group, with regular interactions in five districts spread across three provinces.

The event is organized by the FFF – a partnership hosted by FAO in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and AgriCord – in collaboration with the Ministry of Forests and Environment of Government of Nepal, Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), Agroecology Coalition and International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.  The conference is convened within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028). It will contribute to FAO’s Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) on climate change mitigating and adapted agri-food systems, biodiversity and ecosystem services for food and agriculture, inclusive rural transformation, resilient agri-food systems and scaling up investment.

Why will the Conference focus on forest and farm producers’ organizations (FFPOs) - including groups of Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs)?

FFPOs and IPLC groups draw their membership from smallholders who comprise 84 percent of all farms worldwide in diverse and highly efficient landscapes, producing 35 percent of the world’s food on just 24 percent of its agricultural land. But they are in competition with large-scale industrial monocultures. In general, markets homogenize production into monocultures driven by the need for product uniformity and scale efficiency. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Global Land Outlook 2 report, released in 2022, up to 40 percent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of humanity and threatening roughly half of global gross domestic production (GDP) that is moderately or highly reliant on natural resources (i.e. approximately USD 44 trillion).[1] If business as usual continues through 2050, projections suggest that degradation will expand across an area of approximately 16 million km², almost the size of South America.

FFPOs offer a viable alternative and can help drive a paradigm shift away from large-scale monoculture systems, which are vulnerable to climate change and highly inequitable. They engage in a set of activities to achieve market scale, but with different smallholdings that can produce diverse baskets of many different products from a single landscape. For developing countries, export trade can often be limited to a few commodities, but local trade and consumption embrace a very large number of products. Diversifying farms in these systems provides better food and nutrition and more secure access to renewable energy, accessible construction materials, healthcare products and cosmetics among others. Moreover, this diversity also helps cushion the effects of shocks from climate change, pandemics and market-related fluctuations.

It is vital that more financial resources are mobilized by and channelled towards the organizations of smallholder producers, local communities and indigenous peoples. They own or manage at least 4.35 billion hectares – roughly half - of forest and farm landscapes yet receive less than 2 percent of climate and nature finance. They are primary agents in delivering agrobiodiversity solutions.

Objective of the conference

The conference will gather representatives from FFPOs and IPLC groups, governments, local and international civil society organizations and other stakeholders from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe to enhance peer learning through South-South and triangular cooperation. It will also stimulate upscaling of good practices across a global network of FFPOs, facilitated by the FFF. FFPOs from the Global South, particularly Asia, Africa and Latin America, will exchange knowledge and discuss common challenges in maintaining agrobiodiversity, which will enable them to adapt their own models from lessons learned to benefit their members’ livelihoods.

The Conference will also help strengthen the collaboration and synergy of FFPOs with governmental institutions, the private sector, finance institutions and other relevant stakeholders to promote agrobiodiversity linked to forest and farm value chains. Finally, it aims to generate a body of knowledge developed and owned by FFPOs, which will mainstream gender and youth concerns and draw on indigenous and traditional knowledge.

Participants

Participants in Nepal: Around 50-80 participants, including representatives of FFPOs supported by FFF, provinces and networking organizations, government agencies and policy makers, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), international development agencies, financial institutions and donors, the private sector, media agencies and other relevant stakeholders. Participants from other countries: Around 50-80 participants comprising representatives of FFPOs and governments of FFF core partner countries and network countries, international organizations, NGOs, resource and technical partners, and other stakeholders. Efforts will be made to ensure a balance of female and male participants, and representation of youth and young professionals.