Article | 07 Déc, 2016

How can changes in agriculture help protect the global commons?

How do the ways that the world grows its food affect the environmental systems that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system, our global commons?

As we push these systems to their limits, how can major shifts in agriculture help bring them back from the brink?

Naoko Ishii at GEF/IUCN Global Commons event CBD CoP13 5Dec2016

Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF frames the discussion of agriculture and food systems in regards to protecting the global commons at the GEF/IUCN Global Commons side event at CBD CoP13, 5 Dec 2016

Photo: IUCN/Mark Gnadt

Panelists at Global Commons event CBD CoP13 5Dec2016

Panelists from left: Pablo Lomeli, Industry Affairs, Social Responsibility & Sustainability Manager, Monsanto Latin America North, Alexander Mueller, TEEB Agri-Food Study Leader, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, VP, Conservation International, Costa Rica and former Minister of Environment of Costa Rica, Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General and Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson GEF.

Photo: IUCN/Mark Gnadt

Inger Andersen at Global Commons event CBD CoP13 5Dec2016

Inger Andersen presents the importance of agriculture and food systems to the global commons at the GEF/IUCN Global Commons side event at CBD CoP13, 5Dec2016

Photo: IUCN/Mark Gnadt

The Global Environment Facility and International Union for Conservation of Nature hosted a side event at the Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD CoP13) in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss options for radically transforming our food system to protect our planet and produce enough nutritious food for all.

After an introduction from Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF, IUCN Director General Inger Andersen presented outcomes from the Our Global Commons event in Washington DC as they relate to agriculture and food production. Andersen then moderated a panel comprised of representatives from business, government, civil society and academia including Ms Ishii, Pablo Lomeli, Industry Affairs, Social Responsibility & Sustainability Manager, Monsanto Latin America North, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, VP, Conservation International, Costa Rica and former Minister of Environment of Costa Rica, and Alexander Mueller, TEEB Agri-Food Study Leader.

IISD Reporting Services captured the event in this video.