The Agroecology Opportunity: How support for agroecology is an investment in biodiversity, water, climate, and community security and resilience

Agroecology offers a valuable opportunity that we must embrace now. This session will highlight the wide-ranging benefits that agroecological farming systems can bring, including conserving water, soil, and biodiversity, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and boosting socioeconomic resilience.

Expert panelists from various global initiatives and organizations promoting agroecology will:

• Explain the numerous benefits of agroecological practices, such as improving water systems, preserving biodiversity, regenerating landscapes, supporting farmer resilience, and creating sustainable food production systems.
• Share real-world examples of how agroecology is being implemented in agriculture, from farms to larger landscapes, across regions like Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
• Discuss the importance of cross-sector collaboration and multi-stakeholder dialogues, with lessons learned from groups such as the French Water, Soils, Agroecology, and Food Security working group.
• Highlight the strategic role of agroecology in multiple UN frameworks, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and UN human rights commitments.
• Explore how countries can integrate agroecology and reduce the use of toxic pesticides in national plans, particularly through National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to meet the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). 

Policymakers are encouraged to incorporate agroecology into their NBSAPs, as global reports from the IPCC, IPBES, and others stress the need to reduce synthetic inputs in order to address climate, biodiversity, human health, and social crises. Adopting these methods is key to fulfilling the Paris Climate Agreement, the UN SDGs, and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

Additionally, this session will raise awareness of how agroecological practices—such as soil and water conservation, intercropping, crop rotation, and diversification—reduce reliance on pesticides while maintaining crop yields, ensuring farm productivity, and preserving profitability.