Kigali hosts Conference on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors in Africa

Kigali: Biological diversity is the foundation for our food, nutrition and health and a key catalyst to transforming food systems, improving human health and contributing to poverty reduction. Therefore, the loss of agricultural biodiversity can pose a serious risk to food security and public health.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the support of the Government of Rwanda and in collaboration with the African Union Commission and other partners including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is organizing an “African Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Mainstreaming across Agricultural Sectors” which is taking place from the 4 – 5 November 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The aim of the Regional Dialogue is to mainstream biodiversity across all agricultural sectors, in line with regional objectives and priorities, and with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also matches the Africa’s policy framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

The Africa region depends on the rich biodiversity and the associated traditional knowledge of the continent to both address challenges such as climate change, food and nutrition insecurity and food safety and to support sustainable and resilient agriculture production systems.

The Regional dialogue will serve as an important platform for different stakeholders at national, regional, and subregional levels to convene and address these issues.

Thematic areas

The relevant thematic areas identified include, the relationships between biodiversity mainstreaming with disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, climate change adaptation and mitigation, prevention and combating desertification, genetic resources including seeds, plant and animal agro biodiversity, sustainable natural resource use & management, restoration, value chains, migration, urbanization, gender equality, and poverty alleviation, in the context of attaining food security and nutrition. (End)