The document discusses mainstreaming biodiversity in the food system. It describes several WBCSD projects that aim to enhance biodiversity, including a biodiversity monitor for dairy farming developed by FrieslandCampina, Rabobank, WWF and Louis Bolk Institute. It also discusses a project by Syngenta and Arcadis creating habitats alongside farmland to boost biodiversity. Finally, it proposes next steps to mainstream biodiversity, such as reducing land expansion, supporting regenerative agriculture, and shifting diets to more diversified options.

1. The need for biodiversity
mainstreaming in the
food system
Alison Cairns, MD Food
Systems Transformation,
11am CET, Tuesday 29 May
2018, FAO, Rome

2. The World Business Council for Sustainable
Development
GLOBAL
200 members spanacross the
globe and all economic
sectors.
MARKET-DRIVEN
Put business at the center
of sustainable
development.
CEO-LED
WBCSD is oriented towards
andled by member-company
CEOs.
UNIQUE PLATFORM
Accessto a sustainable business
community and a safe space to
exchange ideas and information.
MISSION: To accelerate
the transition to a
sustainable world by
making more sustainable
business more successful.
VISION: is tocreate
a world where more than
nine billion people are all
living well and within the
boundaries of ourplanet,
by 2050.

3. Food & Land Use: Projects
There is an urgent need to transform our food and land-use stewardship agenda at a global scale. Sustainable,
healthy diets must be ensured for a growing global population while the agricultural sector's resilience to the
effects of climate change must be increased while mitigating the significant GHG emissions from the sector.
FReSH Climate Smart
Agriculture
Soft Commodities
Forum
Global Agri-
business Alliance

4. WBCSD advancing biodiversity
• Biodiversity is important for business. Need to conserve and enhance biodiversity, as it
supports natural capital and life.
• Biodiversity needs to be included in decision-making processes e.g. enterprise risk
management functions but there is no generally accepted methodology.
• WBCSD has a long history of working on biodiversity, producing its 1st handbook on
business and biodiversity in 1997 with IUCN to the Natural Capitol Protocol.
• Important to find the right entry point to enable companies to recognize just how
important it is – via resilience to climate change, or water stress, or indigenous farmers

5. FrieslandCampina: Towards a Biodiversity Monitor
for Dairy Farming
• Developed the Biodiversity Monitor for Dairy Farming with
Rabobank, WWF and the Louis Bolk Institute.
• Provides insight into the actions of dairy farmers to strengthen
biodiversity on their farms and beyond.
• Aims to develop new revenue models across the supply chain
to reduce dairy farmers’ dependence on government funding.
• Diversified revenue models could help convince and motivate
farmers to manage their farms by protecting and enhancing
natural capital, including biodiversity.

6. Syngenta and Arcadis: Enhancing Biodiversity in
Agricultural Landscape
• Creating rich habitats on marginal and less productive
farmland alongside fields and waterways to create
interconnected habitat infrastructures and corridors.
• Called multifunctional field margins (MFFMs), because they
help to prevent soil erosion and protect waterways while
boosting biodiversity.
• Using the Natural Capital Protocol, the program is impacting a
total area of 5.6 million hectares covering projects across
Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.
• They encompass a variety of local partnerships as well as
environmental and cultural approaches.

7. Agrobiodiversity Index:
brings a new dietary dimension
• A multi-stakeholder collaboration between Businesses, Governments, CSO.
• Measures agrobiodiversity across the food system and identifies risks related to low or
reducing agrobiodiversity, and opportunities for high or increasing agrobiodiversity
1. Diets and markets
• capture to what extent and how companies, countries, projects contribute to food biodiversity for healthy
diets
2. Production systems
• capture to what extent and how companies, countries and projects contribute to agricultural diversity for
sustainable production.
3. Genetic resources
• capture to what extent and how companies, countries and projects contribute to diverse genetic resources for
current and future/equal options.

8. Where next to help mainstreaming biodiversity
in the food system?
1. Halt or significantly reduce land expansion by sourcing material from existing
agricultural lands – No.1 reason for biodiversity loss.
2. Explore how to support regenerative agriculture
i) Shift subsidies from commodity based, to positive externality base
ii) Support Payments for agroecosystem services to farmers and farming communities
3. Support consumer shifts to more diversified diets
i) Incorporating greater diversity in processed and packaged foods
ii) Supporting greater consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains.