Environmental Health and Biodiversity
The ecosystems that underpin food production depend on biodiversity to carry out their vital functions effectively. Healthy ecosystems sustain crops, livestock, and fisheries.
They maintain soil health, enable pollination, and carry out natural pest control. They enhance resilience to the changing climate. Agricultural systems that include a rich variety of plants and animals can diversify farmers’ income sources, reduce risks from harvest failures, and supply a broad range of nutrients to sustain healthy diets.
Conserving and using plant genetic resources is foundational to building resilient, sustainable food systems worldwide. Through the Multilateral System of the Plant Treaty, CGIAR genebanks and related research enable innovation and empower farmers, researchers, and policymakers at global, regional, international, and local levels—especially in developing countries—to adapt to today’s climate and food and nutrition security challenges.”
Recommendations
for Decision-Makers
- By applying science-based approaches and understanding trade-offs, decision-makers can meet food production goals while protecting environmental health and biodiversity. In fact, these objectives are more interconnected than they may seem. Food production relies on wild species that provide essential services like pollination, pest control, and soil health, while biodiverse farming systems create vital habitats that support wild species.
- Ensure that policies and strategies are inclusive and co-developed with those who will implement them, most often at the community level. That way, communities will become engaged and proposed solutions will work in diverse local contexts.
- Integrate environmental health considerations into urban agrifood system policies as well as rural ones. For example, policies that support and incentivize circular bioeconomy models in cities keep resources in use for as long as possible.
- Consider incentivizing communities to protect ecosystems and biodiversity through mechanisms like Payment for Ecosystem Services, which compensates people for conservation efforts, such as time spent or reducing agricultural land use.
- Invest in building community capacity to use digital tools in restoration projects—such as mobile apps and blockchain—to improve transparency, accountability, and data collection for monitoring and reporting.
Challenges
Narrowing Food Systems’ Genetic Base
Food systems are built on an ever-narrowing genetic base of crops and animal species. Globally, production, markets, and diets have become more similar (Khoury, 2014). Genetic uniformity increases vulnerabilities, for example, compromising resilience to the increase in crop pests and diseases from climate change. It also reduces diet diversity options.
More People to Nourish
Already fragile food production systems need to meet the demands of an expected global population growth of 2 billion people. Half of this growth is expected to come from Africa, the world’s fastest-growing population, (UN).
Biodiversity Loss
One million species, including the plants and animals humans use for food and animal feed, are at risk of extinction (IPBES) including from agriculture, a major driver of habitat loss for the wild insects and other animals that pollinate a third of the world’s crops. Despite similar goals, wild and agricultural biodiversity conservation agendas often remain separate.
Degraded Land
40% of the world’s land is degraded (UNCCD, 2024) which reduces nutrients in the soil and its capacity to retain water. This impacts the yields of food and forage crops. In sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of land degradation is caused by soil erosion.
What Food Systems Science Tells Us
Science supports better decision-making by helping leaders find ways to balance food production with environmental health and biodiversity. Decision-makers need support in understanding how actions in one part of a food system can have unexpected effects elsewhere. For example, policies that promote biodiversity—such as agroforestry, cover crops, and maintaining wild field margins—can improve ecosystem health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance soil and water quality, and strengthen natural pest control. This, in turn, makes systems more resilient over time (CGIAR, 2017; FAO, 2019). These practices are increasingly seen as ways to boost both agricultural productivity and biodiversity conservation. Every choice along the food supply chain affects biodiversity, so it can provide many opportunities for positive change (Figure 11).
Agricultural biodiversity (Figure 12) in food systems, including livestock, aquatic foods, and microorganisms, can be thought of as diversifying investments—others can step in if one fails. Greater genetic diversity in production systems includes wild spaces. These provide habitats for pest predators and pollinators, and for the wild relatives of domesticated plants and animals. At the same time, CGIAR Genebanks contribute to more resilient food systems by conserving plant genetic resources and making them available to users worldwide (Figure 13).
Plant Genetic Resources Defined
Plant genetic resources are any genetic material of plant origin of actual or potential value for food and agriculture.
Article 2 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (an international agreement aiming to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use) defines plant genetic resources as materials of plant origin with actual or potential value for food and agriculture.
In other words, the term refers to different types of plants, seeds, and plant materials that humans use for food, farming, and breeding new crops. They include local crop varieties, wild plants related to crops, and any plants with useful traits, like disease resistance or the ability to grow in harsh conditions. These resources are important because they help improve food security, develop better crops, and protect biodiversity.
Breeders use genetic resources to develop new crop varieties, livestock breeds, and fish strains with enhanced traits that can better cope with climate change, resist crop pests, or provide more nutrients. They often work closely with local communities to gather feedback on what is needed. Between 2014 and 2024, CGIAR Genebanks distributed over one million samples. The majority goes to National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), national genebanks, advanced research institutes, and universities. A smaller proportion (13% in 2024) goes to the commercial sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers, and individuals.
Policies that support biodiversity and ecosystem health may lower crop yields and reduce incomes, posing challenges to food and nutrition security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and small and medium food enterprises (SMEs). To address these risks, incentives and safety nets such as insurance schemes or Payment for Ecosystem Servicesprograms can help farmers recover losses, while public procurement programs can create stable markets for diverse produce. Health education initiatives can also encourage more diverse diets, improving nutrition outcomes and driving market demand.
Similarly, restoring degraded agricultural lands, including rangelands and grasslands, or managing shared freshwater sources more effectively requires inclusive decision-making. For example, engaging indigenous pastoral communities in land governance policies ensures policies are practical, relevant, and affordable.
Building community capacity to use digital tools in restoration projects—such as mobile apps and blockchain (a distributed network of verified records)—can improve transparency and accountability. These technologies can track progress from seed collection to tree growth, and enable digital environmental services payments to smallholders, community groups, and schools involved in restoration efforts.
Questions and Answers:
What Do Decision-Makers Need?
During the consultation, four critical questions emerged where decision-makers felt further guidance was needed. Here, we present a menu of answers to give a flavor of some of the available options and to show how they can be adapted to diverse local, national, and regional contexts.
More options are available here.
How can we better manage and protect precious shared natural resources?
Decision-Maker Question: “How can we better manage and protect precious shared natural resources?”
One Answer: Harnessing people power in Southern Africa
In 2024, over 1,000 citizen scientists across Southern Africa have been monitoring the health of freshwater sources using a biomonitoring tool called miniSASS. Biomonitoring is the process of checking the levels of chemicals in living things (like people, animals, or plants) to see if they have been exposed to pollution or harmful substances. This tool allows users to record sightings of small water-dwelling creatures—such as insects and worms—that live in ponds, rivers, and streams. These tiny organisms play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health by breaking down organic matter and providing food for fish and other wildlife.
To assess water quality, participants use the miniSASS app to photograph these organisms found in stream water samples. The app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help identify the creatures and evaluate water quality based on the communities of creatures present. Each entry includes geo-referenced data, timestamps, and photographs, which are uploaded to a cloud-based database and displayed on a global map. This system ensures accurate and reliable data for everyone.
Data collected through miniSASS are already benefiting resource-limited water management organizations and has been recognized by the United Nations as a promising tool for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3.2, which focuses on ambient water quality. In 2023, UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, partnered with GroundTruth, CGIAR, and the Duzi-uMngeni Conservation Trust (DUCT) to engage young people in citizen science, training 600 participants through its YOMA platform.
Citizen science data from miniSASS are also being incorporated into a cutting-edge Digital Twinning decision-support system, developed for the Limpopo Water Commission (LIMCOM). LIMCOM oversees a river system that serves 18 million people across Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Involving citizens directly in scientific research, this initiative fosters shared learning and drives behavioral change. While citizen-generated data may not always match the rigor of official monitoring programs, the broad distribution and volume of the data provide valuable insights for decision-makers. miniSASS holds significant promise for global water monitoring and management efforts including official reporting towards progress on SDGs. Additionally, such initiatives empower citizens to act as stewards of critical natural resources, while encouraging government accountability and higher-quality work.
The project is also expanding its youth engagement by collaborating with UNICEF YOMA to scale training in citizen science. Through YOMA’s blockchain-based digital platform, young participants receive incentives for their contributions, develop valuable skills, build digital CVs, and gain experience that enhances their future employment opportunities—all while making a tangible impact on their communities and the environment.
Through this project, unemployed youth and members of the community can identify local environmental problems and then work with local municipal authorities. It starts an education process that drives community action to counter some of the environmental problems they face.”
Which Decision-Makers Will Find This Useful?
Ministries engaged in water and environmental issues, and those seeking data and making decisions related to pollution management, permits, compliance, and licensing decisions at local, regional, and national levels. Staff working in the management of water quality such as water treatment works and wastewater.
Resources for Decision-Makers
Contact
Mariangel Garcia Andarcia
Project Focal Point, Research Group Leader – Water Futures Data & Analytics, CGIAR – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
M.GarciaAndarcia@cgiar.org
Henry Roman
Country Representative – South Africa, CGIAR – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
H.Roman@cgiar.org
How can we partner with communities to support nature-friendly farming while protecting smallholder livelihoods?
Decision-Maker Question: “How can we partner with communities to support nature-friendly farming while protecting smallholder livelihoods?”
One Answer: MY FARM TREES – Agroforestry and payments for ecosystem services
Multiple barriers stand behind scaling forest and ecosystem restoration initiatives and integrating biodiversity into smallholder farming approaches. These barriers include significant gaps in native seed supply, a lack of involvement of local communities in seed production systems, limited entrepreneurship opportunities, a crucial need to strengthen policy around seed systems, and a lack of incentives. Overcoming these barriers can result in benefits in terms of environmental health, climate resilience, and opportunities for rural communities to diversify their livelihoods, for example, through agroforestry or by establishing tree nurseries.
My Farm Trees aims to address these obstacles. It is a digital platform encouraging tree-based restoration of degraded landscapes through which farmers, community groups, and schools can access monitoring tools to transparently verify their efforts. It also presents opportunities to receive financial rewards. The pilot phase has successfully distributed USD 40,000, which is expected to increase in 2025 to USD 500,000 using a digital payment tool that sends the money directly to farmers.
The project also supported beneficiaries in building their capacity to select species, use planting resources appropriately, and design adaptive, resilient, and profitable agroforestry systems—integrating trees and agriculture effectively. Empowering the community as caretakers of their local environment also increases their engagement in efforts to maintain its health.
My Farm Trees platform uses blockchain—a secure digital system that records information.This enables monitoring from seed sources and nurseries to fully grown and maturing trees, creating a trustworthy, georeferenced traceability solution that cannot be altered. For local practitioners, this empowers them with the management and monitoring of activities. Meanwhile, decision-makers can track real-time progress on tree planting and other environmental and social benefits, including inclusion and gender balance. This helps them make better decisions about where to focus efforts and how to manage investments that maximize benefits to stakeholders in implementation sites.
Sub-Saharan Africa
My Farm Trees, piloted in Kenya and Cameroon, has achieved substantial impact across both countries. The project has impacted 5,600 individual farmers and almost 30,000 app users. Over 220,000 seedlings have been planted, with farmers in Kenya contributing to over 100,000 from 15 tree species and Cameroon adding more than 120,000 from 43 species, across a combined total of 2,613 restored hectares. Additionally, 88 tree nurseries have been registered, and the project has engaged with 335 schools and 315 sacred forests.
Digital economic incentives have been distributed to beneficiary farmers, totaling around USD 110,000 in Cameroon and USD 30,000 in Kenya. Scaling efforts in both countries are currently underway with exploratory engagement in Uganda, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal, and Malawi.
Asia
My Farm Trees is expanding in Southeast Asia, focusing on Malaysia, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Laos, and the Philippines. In India, it is being adapted to help practitioners select appropriate tree species and verify seed sources for tropical forest landscape restoration and planting trees outside forests. Plans to engage with the government and other stakeholders in monitoring, evaluation, and incentivization of ongoing restoration initiatives are in the pipeline.
My Farm Trees collaborates with research organizations, implementation organizations, and local governments in Asia to promote native crops and improve local seed systems. The expansion aims to strengthen community seedbanks, enhance access to diverse native crop seeds, and develop decision-support tools for restoration. The platform is being integrated into scalable frameworks for community-based nature-based solutions across the region.
Latin America
My Farm Trees is currently in the early stages of expansion in this region as the next strategical target for its growth. At the recent Convention on Biological Diversity COP16 conference, the team received significant interest from numerous organizations looking to establish new pilot programs, which are now under development in Ecuador and Peru, through organizations promoting social and environmental co-benefits based on tree-based landscape restoration. Other opportunities from interested organizations within other strategic countries such as Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil are under exploration.
Which Decision-Makers Will Find This Useful?
National and local policymakers such as those in Ministries of Environment, Finance, Agriculture, and Forestry. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and development agencies. Those engaged with the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as entities in pursuit of progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Resources for Decision-Makers
Field Story
Join the Conversation
Contact
MyFarmTrees Scaling Lead:
Fidel Chiriboga
CGIAR – Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
f.chiriboga@cgiar.org
Cameroon:
Marius Ekué
Senior Scientist, CGIAR – Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
m.ekue@cgiar.org
Kenya:
Francis Odour
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CGIAR – Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
f.oduor@cgiar.org
Global lead:
Chris Kettle
Principal Scientist, CGIAR – Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
c.kettle@cgiar.org
Contact form: Get in touch for onboarding. And explore usage, implementation, partnership, and collaboration opportunities
How can we reduce the environmental impact of food systems?
Decision-Maker Question: “How can we reduce the environmental impact of food systems?”
One Answer: Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hubs
The Circular Bioeconomy (CBE) Innovation Hub is a collaborative space that supports the development and growth of CBE innovations. It currently operates in Ghana, India, and Viet Nam, with the potential to expand to other regions.
A circular bioeconomy offers an alternative to the traditional “make, use, dispose” model by keeping resources in use for as long as possible. It maximizes their value while in use and ensures they are recovered and regenerated at the end of their lifecycle. In food systems, this means using renewable biological resources—such as plants, animals, and microorganisms—to replace fossil-based products and reduce waste. It promotes sustainability through reuse, recycling, and regeneration.
The CBE Hub brings together businesses, investors, and policymakers to turn bioeconomy ideas into market-ready products and services. Acting as a one-stop shop, the hubs provide training, research, advisory services, and opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing. The initiative emphasizes collective progress over individual interests, promoting a shared vision through educational programs, peer learning, research, and specialized training for entrepreneurs, public institutions, and schools.
Between 2022 and 2024, CBE hubs have been set up in three countries:
In Ghana, over 20 organizations from the public and private sectors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and research institutions are actively involved. More than 5,000 school children (2,802 boys and 2,687 girls) have learned about waste management and resource recovery, including turning organic waste including fecal sludge into safe compost, dry fuel (briquettes), and biogas. A thriving aquaculture business has also been developed in collaboration with wastewater treatment plants. In collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources of Ghana, the Hub has contributed to revising the National Environmental Sanitation Policy. A co-ownership model with 17 partners is helping to drive shared impact strategies.
In Viet Nam, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a series of capacity-building workshops is promoting circular economy practices in coffee and rice industries. Rice farming alone accounts for 19% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions due to activities such as deforestation, fertilizer and water use, and poor management of by-products like straws and husks. Similarly, coffee plantations contribute to deforestation. By adopting circular bioeconomy models, these industries can improve environmental sustainability, increase economic value, and support local livelihoods.
In India, with the BAIF Development Foundation, a residential school project is using food waste to produce biogas, teaching teenagers to embrace sustainability in their daily lives. Training modules have been produced in the local language to ensure accessibility. The National level Circular Innovation Hackathon and Bootcamp have effectively engaged future entrepreneurs through the Innovation Hub in India. Pilot biochar and biogas business models have successfully given training to over 400 farmers.
Which Decision-Makers Will Find This Useful?
Local-level decision-makers (Municipal Assemblies, Local Government Authorities, Community Leaders) tasked with implementing sustainable waste management systems to address urban waste challenges, creating local economic opportunities, and ensuring environmental and social sustainability of local development.
National-level decision-makers (Ministries and other relevant government agencies) tasked with promoting sustainable industrialization aligned with national climate commitments, ensuring the sustainable use of water resources, promoting entrepreneurship in emerging economies, and improving sanitation services and infrastructure.
Regional-level decision-makers seeking to advance sustainable development and climate resilience, support knowledge-sharing and capacity-building initiatives, promote regional industrialization through innovative and sustainable models, and alleviate poverty through job creation and economic diversification.
Private sector actors (Waste management companies, Agri-businesses and bio-based industries, start-ups and small and medium enterprises in circular economy) seeking to enhance operational efficiency in waste collection and processing, accessing funding and technical support for scaling, securing sustainable inputs for production (e.g. fertilizers), reducing costs and improving environmental footprints.
Resources for Decision-Makers
Website
Contact
Ghana:
Dzifa Agbefu
CBE Hub Coordinator, CGIAR – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
d.agbefu@cgiar.org
India:
Mansi Tripathi
CBE Hub Coordinator, CGIAR – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
m.tripathi@cgiar.org
How can we support farmers to make the best use of fertilizer?
Decision-Maker Question: “How can we support farmers to make the best use of fertilizer?”
One Answer: Getting more for less with a bespoke fertilizer advice service in Ethiopia
In the Ethiopian Highlands, farmers’ access to fertilizer is limited because of inadequate supplies and increasing costs. This means that farmers need to make the best use of the fertilizers they can access to help boost productivity in soils that are often degraded.
While most farmers follow the national guidelines on fertilizer application, these recommendations may not bring the best results for the specific environmental conditions some farmers face. In the Ethiopian Highlands, there are differences in soil type and health, cropping systems, land altitude, and the local climate conditions farmers experience. The Landscape-Specific Fertilizer Advisory Initiative (LSFA) provides farmers with guidance tailored to their individual needs to optimize fertilizer use.
An example of advice offered through LSFA could be advising farmers to use more fertilizer on lower slopes where returns are higher and less on high slopes where the land is often more degraded, or rainfall may cause runoff.
The approach uses social media-facilitated extension services and integrates the traditional knowledge of farmers, the expertise of extension agents and agricultural experts of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the insights of agricultural researchers in the National Agricultural Research System to ensure localized fertilizer management is based on the unique needs of each landscape. Extension agents are driving the dissemination of this innovation and capturing feedback on its usefulness.
In 2023, across 10 districts, 7,215 farmers have used the landscape-specific fertilizer recommendation, and 6,353 farmers, experts, extension agents, and decision-makers have benefited through training, field learning events, and social media communities of practice. Through LSFA, farmers have increased their sorghum, teff, and wheat crop yields (13-29%) and profitability (USD 90-270/ha) from the benefit gained from local practices.
In 2024, LSFA has advanced through scaling partners and is transitioning from an extension agent-centered partnership to new partner ecosystems—a network of public, government, and non-government institutions, universities, private sector stakeholders, and community organizations. A scaling strategy plan and implementation guidelines are in place to guide the scaling partners’ network along ten innovation components to strengthen enablers and address scaling barriers.
As a result, more farmers have adopted the fertilizer advisory. There are now10,600 users across 23 districts in seven zones in four regional states. Ethiopia established a coordination platform which accomplished the harmonization of tools being validated in 2,500 farmer fields. The national platform also fostered demand-led innovation development and delivery frameworks.
This project is being carried out under a wider national coordination platform to improve ecosystem health, aligning these efforts to reduce fertilizer use with other initiatives to improve soil health and promote mixed farming systems.
Which Decision-Makers Will Find This Useful?
Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, Innovation and Technology, and Finance, National Agricultural Research Institutions, agribusinesses and cooperatives, extension officers and advisors.
Resources for Decision-Makers
Scaling Strategy
Contact
Gizaw Desta
Use Case Lead, CGIAR – International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Gizaw.desta@icrisat.org
Looking Ahead
To secure sustainable food, water, and ecosystem health, decision-makers across different sectors and levels—national, regional, and local—must consider future trends and emerging challenges to move from “Fragmented governance between biodiversity, climate change, food, water, and health” to urgent and coordinated actions (IPBES, 2025). This requires decision-makers to work together when developing policies and setting targets to ensure their goals align instead of conflicting and to navigate trade-offs. For example, this is not just a rural or environmental issue. With the growth of urban centers, a shift toward regenerative and circular food systems to meet growing consumer demand is essential to balance production and sustainability.
For many low- and middle-income countries, access to finance is a barrier to making these shifts. Without robust funding mechanisms, overhauling water infrastructure and preserving natural environments will be impossible. As water scarcity, pollution, and ecosystem degradation escalate, national policymakers must secure investments and partnerships to ensure their countries have the resources they need to provide safe water, uphold sanitation standards, and support natural restoration efforts. The potential of Payments for Ecosystem Services also needs more analysis in terms of how best it could be further scaled and applied to deliver not just on biodiversity and environmental health targets, but also to incentivize climate change adaptation and mitigation implementation measures at local levels.
To better support national policymakers to secure more investments, more data and research are needed on optimizing production—including crop, livestock, fisheries, and mixed systems—that deliver both ecological intensification and food and nutrition security outcomes. Although agroecological practices are not new, they are not yet widely adopted. While we have substantial data on farm-level benefits, we need more studies exploring how increased biodiversity affects productivity, incomes, diets, and ecosystem services at broader scales. More systematically gathered national data on where and how agroecological practices are implemented, along with their environmental and social benefits, will better guide informed decision-making. Specifically for climate change, the potential of Payments for Ecosystem Services also needs more analysis in terms of its effectiveness and how best it should be applied.
New technologies, such as the use of Earth observation satellites (e.g., Digital Earth Africa and Digital Earth Pacific), remote sensing, and big data analysis which are becoming more accessible and affordable to use, combined with measuring tools like the Agrobiodiversity Index, are beginning to bridge these knowledge gaps. These advancements can support better decision-making around critical issues, like water use and soil health, and help decision-makers align local practices with broader national and global sustainability goals.
