Europe and Central Asia Regional Synthesis for the State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture

By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

based largely on information provided in nineteen country reports submitted to FAO as part of the reporting process for the report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.

Biodiversity for food and agriculture is the diversity of plants, animals and micro-organisms at genetic, species and ecosystem levels, present in and around crop, livestock, forest and aquatic production systems. It is essential to the structure, functions and processes of these systems, to livelihoods and food security, and to the supply of a wide range of ecosystem services. It has been managed or influenced by farmers, livestock keepers, forest dwellers, fish farmers and fisherfolk for hundreds of generations.

The report was originally prepared as supporting documentation for an informal regional consultation on the state of Europe and Central Asia’s biodiversity for food and agriculture, held in Bonn, Germany, in April 2016. It was later revised based on feedback received from the participants of the informal consultation. It provides a description of the drivers of change affecting the region’s biodiversity for food and agriculture and of its current status and trends. It also discusses the state of efforts to promote the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity for food and agriculture in the region, including through the development of supporting policies, legal frameworks, institutions and capacities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Release date: Feb 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9789251321638

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

Book preview

Required citation:

FAO. 2019. Europe and Central Asia Regional Synthesis for The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. Rome.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.

ISBN 978-92-5-131963-5

E-ISBN 978-92-5-132163-8 (EPUB)

© FAO, 2019

Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode/legalcode).

Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: This translation was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original [Language] edition shall be the authoritative edition.

Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules and any arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Third-party materials. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user.

Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [e-mail]. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via: www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: [e-mail].

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

About this report

Executive summary

I.   ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

1.1 Regional context

1.2 Status, trends and drivers of change of biodiversity for food and agriculture

1.2.1 Main drivers of change affecting genetic resources for food and agriculture

1.2.2 Main features of the status and trends of plant, animal, forest and aquatic genetic resources

1.2.3 National information systems on associated biodiversity

1.2.4 Associated biodiversity species actively managed for the provision of ecosystem services

1.2.5 Wild food species

1.2.6 Status, trends and drivers of change of associated biodiversity, ecosystem services and wild food resources

1.3. Needs and priorities

II.   SUSTAINABLE USE AND CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

2.1 Sustainable use

2.1.1 Management practices supporting the maintenance and use of biodiversity for food and agriculture

2.1.2 Effect of diversity per se on productivity, food security and nutrition, and rural livelihoods

2.1.3 Use of biodiversity for food and agriculture for coping with climate change, invasive alien species and natural or human-made disasters

2.1.4 Ecosystem, landscape and seascape approaches for the management and use of biodiversity for food and agriculture

2.1.5 Activities promoting the maintenance and use of traditional knowledge of associated biodiversity and wild foods

2.1.6 Needs and priorities

2.2. Conservation

2.2.1 In situ conservation

2.2.2 Ex situ conservation

2.2.3 Needs and priorities

2.3 Access and exchange

III.   POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS AND CAPACITY

3.1 Policies, programmes, institutions and other stakeholders

3.1.1 Policies and programmes

3.1.2 Interministerial cooperation

3.2 Capacity and research needs

IV.   REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

4.1 Major regional initiatives to conserve and use biodiversity for food and agriculture

4.2 Needs and priorities

REFERENCES

TABLES

Table 1. Percentage of land, water, agricultural and forest areas in Europe and Central Asia located in countries that provided country reports

Table 2. Production systems reported in Europe and Central Asia

Table 3. Associated biodiversity species most frequently reported to be actively managed for the provision of ecosystem services in Europe and Central Asia

Table 4. Wild food species reported by two or more countries in Europe and Central Asia

Table 5. Reported trends in the