The Major Area of Work on

Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity

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Strategic Programme

Making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable

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4Integrated Approaches to Efficient Resource Use (ERU)Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (ESB)Blue Growth Initiative (BGI)

Thematicareasof work

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Brings together FAO’s work on ecosystem services and biodiversity across regions and technical divisions, in Agriculture (Crops and Livestock), Forestry, Fisheries and Natural Resources

Biodiversity has long been interwoven into the work of FAO:• Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,• FAO’s leadership in the Agricultural Biodiversity Programme of

Work of the Convention on Biological Diversity• Inter-Departmental Working Group on Biodiversity

Ecosystem Services: a new terminology but a familiar concept to FAO: “the benefits people obtain from nature”

Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (ESB)

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• Provisioning services are the material benefits that people obtain from ecosystems: food, fresh water, fibres, skins, and other raw materials incl. genetic and medicinal resources

• Regulating services are the benefits obtained from the regulation of biological processes: regulation of water flows, air quality and climate, moderation of extreme events, pollination and seed dispersal, waste recycling, erosion prevention, maintenance of soil fertility and structure

Ecosystem services

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• Supporting services are critical for the provision of all other services: Habitat function for plant and animal species to maintain a high genetic diversity

• Cultural services are the non-material benefits that people gain from ecosystems: cultural heritage and identity, opportunities for recreation and tourism, spiritual experience, inspiration for art and design

Ecosystem services

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4Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (ESB)

main objectives

build a greater understanding on ecosystem services and biodiversity

build capacity in managing and restoring ecosystem services

present compelling evidence and share knowledge

demonstrate that a shift towards more diversified agricultural systems is necessary and feasible

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4Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (ESB)

work streams

Valuation and assessment of ecosystem services and biodiversity

Capacity development for the management of ecosystem services and biodiversity

Governance and policy actions for maintaining, restoring and enhancing the value of ecosystem services

Identification and mainstreaming of incentive measures in policy and practice

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Launch of the FAO web portal on ESB in 2015http://www.fao.org/ecosystem-services-biodiversity/en/

• A global assessment was conducted of ecosystem services provided by livestock species and breeds

• An International Debate on Agroecology in Food and Nutrition Security was convened in 2014 and three Regional Conferences were held in 2015 (Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean) to further advance the agroecology theme on the international agenda

• Several key publications were released to mark the International Year of Soils 2015: the Status of the World’s Soil Resources report, the Revised World Soil Charter, and Understanding Mountain Soils: A Contribution from mountain areas to the International Year of Soils 2015.

• …..

Major work accomplished in 2014/2015

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The increasing global attention paid to Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) as a means to address major global challenges and to simultaneously achieve multiple SDGs is an emerging opportunity for FAO to better position itself in the international arena.

A task force on Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) has been set up in FAO under the co-leadership of AGL (Sally Bunning) and FOA (Thomas Hofer).

A stock-taking of the existing multi-sectoral and cross-cutting conceptual approaches and field experiences in FAO is under way.

Emerging opportunities

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Ecosystem services integration in a landscape

Natural Pest Control

Erosion prevention

Recreation and Tourism

Genetic diversity

Food

Water Diet diversity

Soil fertility

Fodder

Carbon Sequestration

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1) Based on the stock-taking mentioned before, a global guidance document will be prepared in 2017 to demonstrate the importance of ILM in the protection and enhancement of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity for a transition towards more sustainable food and agriculture production systems.

2) Coordinated advocacy work to support biodiversity-related international bodies in their efforts to mainstream biodiversity across other sectors including agriculture.

3) Coordinated technical inputs to the preparation of The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.

Work to achieve Outputs 2 and 3 is led by the CGRFA in close collaboration with the sectorial Intergovernmental Technical Working Groups on Genetic Resources

Key work at global level in 2016/17:

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Livestock species and breeds are key components of ago-ecosystems and play an essential role in the provision of ecosystem services.

There are three features that make livestock’s roles in ecosystems unique:• Their ability to convert non-human edible feed and organic waste into

useful products;• Their direct interactions with land, soil, vegetation through trampling,

grazing and browsing, and through the production of urine and dung;• Their mobility and thus response capacity to deal with spatial and

temporal fluctuations in resource availability.

Animal genetic resources and ESB

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The promotion and wider application of integrated landscape approaches will support the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, particularly its

Strategic Priority 5 (Promote agro-ecosystems approaches to the management of animal genetic resources) and

Strategic Priority 6 (Support indigenous and local production systems and associated knowledge systems of importance to the maintenance and sustainable use of animal genetic resources).

Animal genetic resources and ESB

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Integrated landscape management may include sector-specific actions in policy and practices, e.g. • To improve recognition and accounting for non-provisioning ecosystem

services provided by livestock;• To support small-scale livestock keepers and pastoralists by formulating

favourable policies and by providing incentives for the preservation of a broad genetic pool for future generations;

• To reverse the genetic erosion of livestock breeds by promoting a variety of options for adapting to changing environments, including climate change;

Beyond sector-specific actions, ILM fosters inter-sectoral coordination and sets up inclusive multi-stakeholder processes for collaborative planning, negotiation and decision-making. It combines practices and strategies to sustainably manage the natural resource base across different land uses and to achieve multiple environmental, economic and social benefits. It creates resilience by promoting diversity.

Animal genetic resources and ESB

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Integrating ecosystem services into FAO’s work and aligning it with the biodiversity work provides opportunities to work across sectors

There is growing recognition of the need to shift towards more diversified agriculture and food systems that promote the role of ecosystem services in agriculture, stimulate interactions between different land uses, users and species and build long-term soil fertility, provide nutritious food and secure livelihoods.

Let’s work together to make this shift happen!

Conclusions

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THANK YOU !

Contact: Thomas HoferTeam Leader (Water and Mountains)Delivery Manager (Major Area of Work on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity)Coordinator Mountain Partnership SecretariatFAO-Forestry DepartmentThomas.Hofer@fao.org