Biodiversity protection “window of opportunity is closing,” warn scientists at COP15

16 Dec 2022 --- Authorities are trying to adopt a new set of goals to prevent and reverse the loss of nature. At COP15 in Montreal, delegates are discussing a global biodiversity framework with clear targets for overexploitation, pollution and sustainable agricultural practices, all while figuring out how to drive financial flows toward planet-friendly investments.

The Crop Trust, which works to protect and conserve crop diversity, says that while “COP15 delegates are inheriting a track record of failure,” there is still time to reverse the current “destructive trend” that threatens the planet’s diversity of crops and biology.

But, industry and all stakeholders must act now. 

“We have a window of opportunity to protect and make available the foundations of the world’s agriculture, but it is closing. If we do not take action to protect our planet’s biodiversity, we will see greater biodiversity loss – and when biodiversity is lost, it is lost forever,” stresses Stefan Schmitz, Crop Trust executive director. 

“By conserving crop diversity today, we are providing solutions for tomorrow’s agriculture,” he highlights. 

The Paulson Institute explains that although extinction is a natural phenomenon, scientists estimate that the world is losing species at up to 1,000 times the natural rate of one to five species per year. The US organization says 30% to 50% of all species might be lost by the middle of the 21st Century if “human society continues on this trajectory.”

UN General Assembly president Csaba Korosi highlighted that companies should do their part and disclose company impacts on nature, “I implore global businesses to shoulder social responsibility by mainstreaming biodiversity into their strategies and value chains,” he says.

Crop variety for food security
Earlier this summer when extreme heat scorched the Northern Hemisphere, Schmitz warned that just three crops – wheat, maize and rice – making up nearly half of the world’s food supply is a real food security threat. As all three crops are vulnerable to extreme weather conditions like drought and heat.

Harvests of the monocrop Cavendish banana species are currently under attack by a far-reaching black fungus disease.“The Crop Trust believes that crop diversity – the variety of plants used in agriculture – is a prerequisite for future food and nutrition security. Only by safeguarding crop diversity in perpetuity, and making it available for use by researchers, plant breeders and farmers, can we adapt agriculture to the climate crisis, improve livelihoods and feed everyone adequately,” explains Schmitz.

“The speedy implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post 2020 global biodiversity framework and a renewed commitment to Target 10 would not only help reverse nature’s biodiversity decline but lift millions of people out of a life of hunger and poverty,” he continues.

The Convention on Biological Diversity hopes to reduce the risk threatening the extinction of millions of species, to restore degrading ecosystems and to protect 30% of sea and land area, among other targets.

In an interview for FoodIngredientsFirst, Dan Saladino, author of  “Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them”, spoke extensively about the detriment of monoculture and shared evidence of its impact gathered from his global travels.

Genebanks use in Africa
Crop Trust flags that a path to achieve greater food security in the continent is through the use of the already existing genebanks in Africa, which remain understudied and largely untapped.

“Smallholder farmers, researchers and plant breeders can use these valuable seed repositories to develop and grow crops and varieties that are able to withstand harsh environments and support landscape restoration,” explains the organization.

Crop Trust explains that farmers and genebanks have to exchange knowledge on good practices, so countries know how to best conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. The organization explains that one exchange of good practices that lead to real results was through the Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development Project, funded by the government of Norway.

The project developed a drought tolerant wheat variety, named Jabal, which is climate-resilient.

By Marc Cervera