Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Declining biodiversity for food and agriculture needs urgent global action

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Food

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The continuing loss of ecosystems, species and intraspecific genetic diversity has profound implications for agriculture, food security and human wellbeing. An urgent response is needed, including at global level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Global state and trends figures for key elements of biodiversity important to food and agriculture.
Fig. 2: Countries’ evaluation of trends in the use of selected management practices and approaches.

References

  1. The State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 1997).

  2. The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2007).

  3. The Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2010).

  4. The State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources (FAO, 2014).

  5. The Second Report on the State of World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2015).

  6. The State of the World’s Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2019).

  7. Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Leipzig Declaration (FAO, 1997).

  8. The Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources and the Interlaken Declaration (FAO, 2007).

  9. Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2011).

  10. Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources (FAO, 2014).

  11. Report of the Seventeenth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Rome, 18−22 February 2019 (FAO, 2019).

  12. The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2019).

  13. Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019).

  14. Climate Change and Land. An IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems. (IPCC, 2019).

  15. Synthesis Progress Report on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources – 2014 (FAO, 2014).

  16. Status of Implementation of the Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2016).

  17. First Report on the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources (FAO, 2019).

  18. Mansfeld’s World Database of Agriculture and Horticultural Crops (IPK, 2017).

  19. FAOSTAT (FAO, 2017).

  20. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) (FAO, 2017).

  21. Beech, E., Rivers, M., Oldfield, S. & Smith, P. P. J. Sustain. Forest. 36, 454–489 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics: FishstatJ – Global Production by Production Source 1950–2016 (FAO, 2018).

  23. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 – Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (FAO, 2018).

  24. The Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production of the Intergovernmental Science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2016).

  25. Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR) – Main Report (FAO, ITPS, 2015).

  26. Orgiazzi, A. et al. Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas (ESDAC, 2016).

  27. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2017–3 (IUCN, 2017).

  28. Davidson, N. C. Mar. Freshwater Res. 65, 934–941 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. The World’s Mangroves 1980–2005 (FAO, 2017).

  30. Hughes, T. P. et al. Nature 543, 373–377 (2017).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Hughes, T. P. et al. Science 359, 80–83 (2018).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Heron, S. F., Eakin, C. M. & Douvere, F. Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Coral Reefs: A First Global Scientific Assessment (UNESCO, 2017).

  33. Waycott, M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 12377–12381 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: How are the World’s Forests Changing? (FAO, 2016).

  35. Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2018).

  36. FAOSTAT (FAO, 2018).

  37. The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture – In Brief (FAO, 2019).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the paper. D.P. drafted the paper. J.B. and I.H. substantively revised the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie Bélanger.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

All authors are employed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the work of which is discussed in the paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pilling, D., Bélanger, J. & Hoffmann, I. Declining biodiversity for food and agriculture needs urgent global action. Nat Food 1, 144–147 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0040-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0040-y

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation