Summary
Highlights for Friday, 22 February 2019
On Friday morning, CGRFA 17 delegates attended the launch of the report on the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture (SOW-BFA).
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva highlighted the wealth of information the report brings together, noting it covers a gap in knowledge and sets a baseline for the future.Bernard Lehmann, Swiss Secretary of State for Agriculture, stressed the need to motivate farmers to strengthen co-existence of biodiversity and agriculture. Ram Kumari Chaudhary, State Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal, stressed that no country is self-sufficient in food species.Naoko Ishii, GEF Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson, outlined the GEF's program on food and land use restoration focusing on comprehensive land use planning, a landscape approach, and value chain management. Normita Ignacio, Executive Director, SEARICE, Philippines, asked delegates to use the report to inspire real action, noting that “smallholders feed the world, so we must put their interests before all others.”
Via video message, CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer encouraged FAO and the Commission to continue their active involvement in the development of the post-2020 biodiversity framework using the SOW-BFA report. Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said the report will help policy makers, stakeholders and citizens better understand the linkages between biodiversity and agriculture.In the afternoon, delegates adopted the CGRFA 17 report.René Castro-Salazar, Assistant Director General, Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Management, lauded the launch of the SOW-BFA report expressing his confidence that decisions taken during the session would allow “turning words into deeds.” CGRFA Secretary Irene Hoffmann urged delegates to “distribute, reiterate and retweet” the messages of the SOW-BFA to give it real impact.CGRFA 17 Chair Wigmore underlined the importance of collaboration between the Commission and other biodiversity-related agreements in building the post 2020 biodiversity framework and closed the session at 7:05 pm.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from the 17th Session of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Launch of the State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture Report
Closing Plenary
Around the Venue
