Building Blocks for a Shared Narrative on Biodiversity and Food Systems: UNCBD COP16 Event Recap

The integration of biodiversity into food systems is a critical challenge that requires urgent attention. Despite ongoing efforts, progress has been limited, and this impacts both ecosystem health and food security. There is a need to better understand and address the barriers that prevent meaningful change. Using a landscape approach and focusing on a plural value perspective, the session aimed to find building blocks for a narrative that can help narrow down this gap.

Here, we share the main outcomes to encourage more joint action toward building resilient and sustainable food systems.

Key Contributors to the Session:

The session featured insights from leading voices in biodiversity, environmental health, and sustainable food systems:

• Marcel Beukeboom - Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations Organizations in Rome (FAO, WFP, IFAD)
• Cargele Masso - Director of the Impact Area Platform on Environmental Health and Biodiversity, CGIAR
• Maria Clara van der Hammen - Project Coordinator, Tropenbos Colombia
• Stef de Haan - Senior Scientist, Andean Food Systems at the International Potato Center (CIP), CGIAR
• Willem Ferwerda - Founder, Commonland Foundation
• Nancy Rapando - Africa’s Food Future Lead, WWF-Kenya
• Ivo Walsmit - Thematic Expert on Biodiversity, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

We’d like to thank Amanda Harding, Leading Convene, for her skilled facilitation, which helped make the dialogue meaningful. We also very much appreciate the valuable (and actually crucial) insights and experiences shared by everyone who joined us in the room. Of course we also thank Partners for Water, as hosts of the NL Pavilion to provide us the space to host this session at the COP.