Statement for World Environment Day, 5 June 2020

Millions of people rely on the rich agrobiodiversity of the ASEAN Region for food, health and livelihood. Photo by ACB.

 

Transformative change and sustainable use of biodiversity for a ‘better normal’
By Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim
Executive Director, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity

Among the lessons to be gleaned from the current global pandemic is the crucial importance of biodiversity in public health, livelihood, and food security. This World Environment Day, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), together with the entire globe, pays homage to the environment and recognise the tireless efforts of our unsung frontliners and stewards of nature and biodiversity, the farmers.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the pandemic is particularly disruptive to smallholder producers who rely on agricultural biodiversity as a source of food and income. Community lockdowns reduced most farming activities, while travel restrictions cut off the food supply chain and deprived producers of their income. Tackling hunger and lack of food has even become more challenging amid the health crisis, which reminds us that we are highly dependent on nature and biodiversity for two of the most important things for survival — health and food.

With the theme Time for Nature, the World Environment Day highlights the urgency of conserving biodiversity and building community resilience as part of a new and better normal.

Prioritising agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity – a sub-component of biodiversity for agriculture and food production – becomes even more important, especially in the ASEAN region, where the agriculture sector is among the most productive in the world. Seven ASEAN Member States (AMS) are among the top 20 global rice producers, with rice and agricultural production largely contributing to their respective GDPs.

However, agrobiodiversity is fast declining, mainly driven by changes in land and water use, the degradation and loss of forest and aquatic ecosystems, and the transition to intensive production of less varieties of species (Sajise, 2019). This is an imminent risk in the region, where population growth is predicted to reach more than 700 million in the next 50 years, posing a greater challenge to balancing food security and dwindling natural resources.

The recent Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) report that underscored the need for support for environmental considerations for more sustainable and nature-positive activities is in harmony with the general consensus that smallholder farmers’ agrobiodiversity practices can slow down and even reverse biodiversity decline.

Among these nature-positive activities are effective agrobiodiversity practices such as diversification of the farms — using multi-species and multi-breed of crops and animals — a practice that increases ecological and genetic diversity. Farming methods such as crop rotations, intercropping and growing diverse crop varieties can help improve crop productivity and performance and manage pest and crop diseases. Integrating farm components and planting various food crops and animals provide additional income for the farmers, and helps in the mitigation and adaptation against climate change.

In rural areas, household backyard gardens are safe sources of nutritious and diversified diet, as well as medicinal herbs for common illnesses. Communal gardens can also serve as community seedbanks that safeguard local and traditional crop varieties. Agroecological methods that many local communities practice require support through enabling policies and programs in crop conservation and improvement.

Moreover, indigenous farming systems are rich repositories of sustainable agricultural knowledge and practices. The AMS, with the support of the ACB, are spearheading the establishment of the ASEAN Regionally Important Agro-Ecological Heritage Systems (ARIAHS). ARIAHS recognises and supports agricultural heritage systems that have successfully combined traditional farming practices and modern approaches to address the need for sustainable food production.

Integrating biodiversity in cities and peri-urban areas is also crucial. At the onset of the pandemic, city dwellers have realised the value of urban gardening to ensure a reliable, affordable and convenient source of fresh and healthy food. Meanwhile, urban green spaces such as botanic gardens and wildlife parks, improve air quality, offer havens in concrete jungles, and serve as natural barriers in the face of disasters.

Nature offers the best solutions to the challenges that we grapple with during these most uncertain of times. Let this year’s World Environment Day spur us to make time for nature through transformative action and mainstreaming biodiversity in agriculture and in other development sectors. Let us make every day a time for nature.

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