On its X profile, the UN agency recalled that biodiversity is the basis of agri-food systems, sustainable agricultural production, and food security and nutrition for all.

It covers the world’s species of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes, the genetic diversity within these species, and the diversity of all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in which they live, it added.

FAO stressed that biodiversity is vital for ecosystem functions and services and extends beyond the species and varieties used directly to obtain food, fuel, and fiber.

“Around the world, biodiversity also underpins the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, family farmers and local communities, forest rangers, fishers, livestock breeders and pastoralists,” it stressed.

The organization explained that the diversity of crop varieties, livestock breeds and types of farmed fish, which have been developed, sustainably used and conserved by small farmers and communities for millennia, contributes to food security, nutrition and people’s livelihoods.

“In order to safeguard food and agricultural production, now and in the future, we need to manage the biodiversity that exists in production systems sustainably and the wide range of ecosystem services obtained from the surrounding land and sea landscapes,” FAO stressed.

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