This document discusses mainstreaming agricultural biodiversity through incentives and investments. It argues that conservation strategies for wild and agricultural biodiversity are largely pursued separately despite their interdependencies. Only 30% of national biodiversity strategic action plans include details on agrobiodiversity conservation and use. The document highlights examples from Brazil of using school feeding programs and market incentives to promote consumption of nutrient-rich native species. It also discusses the benefits of maintaining forest borders around coffee fields to reduce crop pests by attracting predators like the yellow warbler. The document advocates for payment programs that reward farmers for conserving crop wild relatives and genetic resources and outlines threats to forest foods in Burkina Faso mapped through a multi-threat model. In the end,

1. Biodiversity Mainstreaming Through Incentives and
Investments: The Case for Agrobiodiversity
Ann Tutwiler, Director General, Bioversity International
29 May 2018 @AnnTutwiler @BioversityInt

2. i) Intrinsic
wild
biodiversity
ii) Utilitarian
wild
biodiversity
iii) Agro-
ecosystems
iv) Agro-
biodiversity
A Biodiversity Continuum…
Agricultural biodiversity is the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that
are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture.

3. Call to Action: Integrate Wild and
Agrobiodiversity Conservation Goals
Whooping Crane – An endangered species
Yellow Warbler – Coffee borer beetle
predator.
Eagle
Despite many linkages & interdependencies, conservation strategies
for wild and for agricultural biodiversity are largely being pursued
separately.
Spatial overlap of high crop diversity and
biodiversity hotspots
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Spatial-overlap-of-areas-of-high-crop-diversity-15-spp-crop-harvested-from-Monfreda_fig2_320331897

4. Call to Action: Mainstream Agricultural
Biodiversity Across Sectors Through
National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans
Most of the 119 reviewed NBSAPs
make general reference to Aichi
Biodiversity Targets 7 & 13, but
only 30% include details of concrete
actions for agrobiodiversity
conservation and sustainable use.
NBSAPs also missing opportunities to mainstream agrobiodiversity
in broader development planning: poverty reduction, adaptation to
climate change and food security.

5. Mainstreaming Wild & Agrobiodiversity:
– It is not Either/Or but A Continuum
Birds are effective pest predators. The Yellow Warbler
likes to eat the coffee borer beetle.
Whooping Crane – An endangered speciesEagle
Butterfly pollinator on fennel
Both wild and agricultural biodiversity
provide multiple ecosystem services that
support food production, underpin food
security and human wellbeing.
35% of the world’s land is farmed.
Agricultural land management is increasingly
important for wild biodiversity conservation.
At least 1/3 of world's crops depends
upon pollination provided by insects and
other animals. Wild biodiversity also
provides ecosystem services like pest
management.
Multi-functional field margins provide critical habitats
for wild biodiversity, e.g. pollinators and crop wild
relatives
YellowWarbler.Credit:MDF/Wikimedia

6. Wild Biodiversity is Shrinking
Food Biodiversity is also Shrinking in Diets &
Production Systems
(Data source: Kew, 2016; FAO, 1997)
5,538
390,000
3
12

7. Mainstreaming Agricultural Biodiversity
in Sustainable Food Systems
Production
Diets
Genetic resources
www.bioversityinternational.org/mainstreaming-agrobiodiversity
#AgrobiodiversityBook

8. Brazil: Consumption Incentives
School Feeding Programme provides
healthy meals = minimum 20% of
nutritional needs
Information on 70 nutrient-rich native
species (mostly wild) sent to inform
menus
>40 million students – future consumers
A nutritionist in every school
Healthy eating lessons and school
gardens
Mainstreaming Agricultural
Biodiversity: Biodiversity for Food and
Nutrition (1)
Diets
Students’ book
covers feature
healthy indigenous
plants.
Camu camu, a wild species from the Amazon,
has 35 times more Vitamin C than oranges – one
of the 70 (mostly wild) species analyzed

9. Brazil: Market Incentives
The Food Procurement Programme:
• purchases from family farms (30%)
• guarantees minimum market price for farmers for 81
biodiverse nutritionally important species
DietsMainstreaming Agricultural Biodiversity:
Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition (2)
School children with indigenous fruit procured from local farmers. Credit: Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social

10. Mainstreaming Agricultural
Biodiversity: Stopping Crop Pests and
Diseases in Their Tracks
Diverse coffee production system. Credit: Bioversity International/F. DeClerck
(inset: coffee borer beetle. Credit: L. Shyamal/Wikimedia and Yellow Warbler. Credit: MDF/Wikimedia)
The coffee borer beetle can cost
farmers up to 75% of their crop.
Natural barriers can stop the beetle.
Maintaining forest adjacent to coffee
reduced the beetle’s movement
between fields by 86%.
Forests also provide bridges to aid
wildlife movement through
agricultural lands and attract pest
predators – like the yellow warbler.
Production

11. Mainstreaming Agricultural Biodiversity:
Payment for Agrobiodiversity Conservation
Services (PACS)
Production
Complementary to value chain
approaches, incentives mechanisms
are needed to align private incentives
with the provision of public goods.
PACS rewards farmers for conserving
priority threatened genetic
resources, including crop wild
relatives, in a cost-effective manner,
thereby supporting the implementation
of farmers’ rights and the fair and
equitable sharing of benefits.
Current
market
potential
Unknown current
market potential
No current
market potential
Priority Genetic Resources
Conservation Portfolio

12. Mainstreaming Agricultural Biodiversity:
Mapping Threats to 16 Food Tree Species (1)
In Burkina Faso, 130,000 people are in a
state of severe food insecurity –
a number expected to increase to over
600,000 during the 2018 lean season.
Forest foods – wild fruits, nuts,
vegetables, mushrooms and animal
products – provide a lifeline to rural
populations.
Yet many species, in the wild and in
managed forest environments, are under
threat.
Genetic resources
Women selling nutritious soumbala at the market in Burkina
Faso. Soumbala is a spice made from the pulp and seeds of
the African locust bean tree - it grows both in the wild and in
managed forest environments.
Credit: Bioversity International/B. Vinceti

13. Mainstreaming Agricultural
Biodiversity: Mapping Threats to 16 Food Tree
Species (2)
Genetic resources
Combined threat magnitude levels for all species across all threats and protected areas.
Credit: Bioversity International/H. Gaisberger https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184457.g003
A spatially explicit
multi-threat model
predicts ALL 16
species mapped are
facing serious threats
in MOST locations.
Climate change is
the most serious
long-term threat.

14. Agrobiodiversity Index
Production
Diets
Genetic resources
#ABDIndex
https://www.bioversityinternational.org/abd-index/
An actionable index, empowering decision-markers to
reduce risk and to transform what we grow, eat and
conserve.

15. The Three Pillars of the Agrobiodiversity Index
Provide Entry Points for Different Players
Consumers
Food and retail
businesses
Agribusinesses
Farmers
Conservation
groups
Seed businesses
Investors
Local and national governments

16. Thank you
www.bioversityinternational.org/subscribe
@BioversityInt
Ann Tutwiler
a.tutwiler@cgiar.org
@anntutwiler