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  • Correspondence
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Integrating agroecological production in a robust post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1150–1152 (2020)Cite this article

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To the Editor — The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting to the Convention on Biological Diversity in China — now to be held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic — will provide new opportunities for biodiversity conservation (https://go.nature.com/31YAVNF) through the decision on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). In short, the GBF is a global and solution-oriented framework aiming for transformative action by governments, civil society and businesses, to help biodiversity recover for the benefit of people and planet1. Agriculture is the most extensive form of land use, occupying more than one-third of the global landmass, and imperilling 62% of all threatened species globally2. Habitat conversion and conventional farming practices — including heavy use of agrochemicals — have negative effects on biodiversity3, even spilling into protected areas. However, if designed appropriately, agricultural landscapes can provide habitats for biodiversity, promote connectivity between protected areas, and increase the capacity of species to respond to environmental threats4,5. While halting the loss of protected and intact nature is essential to halt species loss, bending the curve on biodiversity will require sustainable agriculture. We argue that the GBF must include conservation actions in agricultural landscapes based on agroecological principles (sensu High Level Panel of Experts6) in the three ‘2030 Action Targets’ (hereafter ‘Targets’) to reach its goals of biodiversity recovery. Agroecology is widely recognized as a necessary transformation in order to achieve food system sustainability.

Below, we elaborate on how agroecological production can help to support the GBF targets.

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Acknowledgements

366 signatories from 42 countries support and agree with this Correspondence. The full list of signatories and their affiliations appears in the Supplementary Information. Many signatories provided valuable comments that improved the final document.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainability, Agriculture and Technology Laboratory, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China

    Thomas C. Wanger

  2. Agroecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Thomas C. Wanger & Teja Tscharntke

  3. GlobalAgroforestryNetwork.org, Hangzhou, China

    Thomas C. Wanger

  4. EAT Forum, Oslo, Norway

    Fabrice DeClerck

  5. Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT, CGIAR, Montpellier, France

    Fabrice DeClerck

  6. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Río Negro, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

    Lucas A. Garibaldi

  7. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Río Negro, Argentina

    Lucas A. Garibaldi

  8. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Jaboury Ghazoul

  9. Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Jaboury Ghazoul

  10. Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jaboury Ghazoul

  11. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

    David Kleijn

  12. Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Alexandra-Maria Klein

  13. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Claire Kremen

  14. Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Harold Mooney

  15. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ivette Perfecto

  16. Institute for Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Luke L. Powell

  17. Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Luke L. Powell

  18. Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Halle, Germany

    Josef Settele

  19. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Josef Settele

  20. Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

    Josef Settele

  21. Department of Biological Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil

    Mirco Solé

  22. Department for Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Wolfgang Weisser

Authors
  1. Thomas C. Wanger
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  2. Fabrice DeClerck
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  3. Lucas A. Garibaldi
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  4. Jaboury Ghazoul
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  5. David Kleijn
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  6. Alexandra-Maria Klein
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  7. Claire Kremen
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  8. Harold Mooney
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  9. Ivette Perfecto
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  10. Luke L. Powell
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  11. Josef Settele
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  12. Mirco Solé
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  13. Teja Tscharntke
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  14. Wolfgang Weisser
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Contributions

T.C.W. initiated the idea, wrote the initial draft, and coordinated the sign up to the ‘List of Signatories’. T.C.W., F.D.C., L.A.G., J.G., D.K., A.-M.K., C.K., H.M., I.P., L.L.P., J.S., M.S., T.T. and W.W. discussed and refined the manuscript and distributed the document through their networks.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas C. Wanger.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wanger, T.C., DeClerck, F., Garibaldi, L.A. et al. Integrating agroecological production in a robust post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1150–1152 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1262-y

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