Subject: Agriculture biodiversity at UNEP-BPSP

From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 11:31:17 -0500

Here's a resource for your sustainable agriculture toolbox,
relating to agriculture biodiversity.

Steve Diver
ATTRA

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Managing Agricultural Resources for Biodiversity Conservation:
A Guide to Best Practices
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/Agrobiodiversity/agrobiodiversity%20thematic/agbioguide.pdf

        78-page PDF

By Barbara Gemmill, 2001
Environmental Liaison Centre International, Nairobi, Kenya

With Support from:

Biodiversity Planning Support Programme (BPSP)
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Nice layout, summary, and resource listings for the following topics

1. Principles for Conserving Farm Genetic Resources
2. Principles for Conserving Agricultural Ecosystem Services
3. Principles for Conserving Biodiverse Agricultural Landscapes

Source:

UNEP-BPSP Thematic Studies
Integration of Biodiversity into National Agriculture Sectors
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/HTML%20files/TS-Agriculture.html

Also see:

2. National Experiences with Integrating Biodiversity into the
   Agricultural Sector: 6 Regional Case Studies
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/HTML%20files/TS-Agriculture2.html

3. Scientific Reviews of National Experiences and Approaches:
   7 Expert Reviews
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/HTML%20files/TS-Agriculture3.html

4. Managing Agricultural Resources for Biodiversity Conservation:
   Annotated Bibliography
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/Agrobiodiversity/agrobiodiversity%20thematic/agbiblio.pdf

        71-page PDF

5. List of Relevant Web-based Resources on Agrobiodiversity
http://www.unep.org/bpsp/Agrobiodiversity/agrobiodiversity%20thematic/web-basedbiblio.pdf

        18-page PDF

The Bibliography provides this background material:

One of the outcomes of the RIO SUMMIT (United Nations Conference
On environment and Development) of 1992 was the signing of the
Convention on Biological Diversity, which has now been ratified by
over 100 countries. By ratifying this convention, countries commit to
implementing the agreements and programme of work as it is
developed through the “Conferences of Parties”, which occur more or
less every two years.

When the Convention was originally drafted, agricultural biodiversity
was not included as an aspect of biodiversity. But such a clamour has
been raised as to the importance of agrobiodiversity, and so much
attention has been drawn to such trend as: the precipitous loss of
landraces of cultivated crops, and the very large proportion of
biodiversity, in general, that occurs in human-dominated landscapes.
As a consequence, agricultural biodiversity was included in the scope
of the convention, and FAO was given the mandate as overall
taskmaster for the subject.

To a large degree, the focus on agrobiodiversity up until now has been
on conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources, and its
concomitant issues of access to genetic resources (for example, by
plant breeders or pharmaceutical researchers) and fair and equitable
benefit sharing (with communities or indigenous peoples who have
shared or shepherded such resources over time).

However, the Convention on Biological Diversity has recognized its
need to liaise thoroughly with the scientific community and through
this liaison, with respect to agricultural biodiversity, a number of
other thematic focal areas have been established. The present list
of areas are:

Pollinators.
Soil biodiversity
Biodiversity that provides mitigation of pests and diseases
Crop genetic resources
Livestock genetic resources
Diversity at the landscape level
Wild biodiversity in agroecosystems

It is now accepted that the “Programme of work” of the Convention
on Biological Diversity should include the conservation, sustainable
use and benefit sharing of all of these focal areas.
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