IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems at UN CCD COP16
For the first time ever, the 2024 UN Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) included an Agri-food Systems Day. Therefore, COP16 Riyadh was an important opportunity for IUCN’s Food and Agricultural Systems team to highlight what IUCN Director General Dr. Grethel Aguilar has called “this paradox of threat and dependence” between agriculture and biodiversity.
UNCCD COP16 Sign in Riyadh, December 2024, Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems
IUCN’s Key Messages on Food and Agriculture
“Agricultural landscapes are a key part of land restoration” said Pascale Bonzom, Head of the IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems team. “We went to Riyadh to mobilize the agricultural and conservation communities to come together in common ground on land use, landscape governance, and agricultural systems that can align nature restoration, food security and livelihoods objectives.”
The IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems events highlighted the vital role of Indigenous People and Local Communities. Smallholder farmers and local communities are presently custodians and stewards of the world’s most intact ecosystems, and they are the most vulnerable to the consequences of land degradation: they should have a central role in decision making and have direct access to finance.
“We also emphasized how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in agricultural systems can effectively address food insecurity, ecosystem degradation, and climate adaptation” said Bonzom. “There was much discussion in Riyadh around achieving Land Degradation Neutrality, and we stressed the role of soil health and the importance of shifting to regenerative agriculture grounded in agroecology principles. Finally, all this has to be properly funded so innovative financing mechanisms must be put in place to unlock public and private finance for land restoration and drought resilience. And there is a clear need for repurposing the roughly USD 2 billion a day global agricultural support towards those outcomes.”
How did the CCD COP16 outcomes reflect IUCN’s ambitions?
COP negotiations often extend right up to the closing deadline and Riyadh was no exception. A number of important decisions were handed on to COP17 in Mongolia in 2026. However, delegates did vote through the creation of a Caucus for Indigenous Peoples and a Caucus for Local Communities to ensure that their unique perspectives and challenges are adequately represented in future COPs – this was one of IUCN’s key “asks” to the Conference. The strong science-based policy foundations of the CCD COP were acknowledged with the vote to continue the CCD Science-Policy Interface, which published a report “Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries”, produced in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which reiterates that agriculture accounts for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of deforestation, and 70% of freshwater use, and calls for an urgent land use transition to step away from the precipice. This call is supported by IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems in its work on soil health, Nature-based Solutions and the importance of shifting to regenerative agriculture.
IUCN’s focus: Land Day and Agri-food Systems Day
The IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems team focused their efforts on Land Day (4th December) and Agri-food Systems Day (5th December). Over a series of impactful events IUCN’s advocacy for agriculture and conservation included a film screening, indigenous and family farmer panels, and the launch of the Arabic version of the Flagship Report on Agriculture and Conservation.
4 December (09:00–10:30): Scaling up Agroecology for restoration and conservation in mosaic landscapes
This event was moderated by IUCN Deputy Director General Stewart Maginnis and explored how agroecology can support livelihoods and combat desertification through landscape restoration.
Commenting on the session, IUCN Head of Food and Agriculture Systems Pascale Bonzom said “It is clear that there is a cost to transitioning towards agroecology and this should be absorbed by repurposing agricultural support towards nature positive outcomes.”
No livestream/recording available.
4 December (17:00–18:30): Common Ground on Regenerative Agriculture for a Sustainable Future: Screening & Farmers Dialogue
This event was opened by IUCN DDG Stewart Maginnis who emphasised the essential role of farmers, introduced by the Common Ground film, in pioneering agricultural practices that not only restore soil health but also address systemic injustices in the farming system. He also highlighted that the transition to regenerative agriculture requires the collaboration of multiple stakeholders, as well as the integration of Indigenous and local knowledge. This was discussed by farmer and indigenous panellists (pictured with Pascale Bonzom) after the film, contributing to the groundswell of support for the creation of the Caucuses for Indigenous People and Local Communities.
4 December (19:00–21:00): Land & Agroecology – Uniting Policy, Practice and Science
This event featured Pascale Bonzom as a panellist. She reflected on the barriers and opportunities to take food system transformation from theory to practice in her intervention. She emphasised the importance of integrated policies, empowering currently marginalised groups, repurposing agricultural subsidies, and mobilising private investments as effective enablers.
5 December (11:00–12:30): „Agriculture and Conservation” IUCN Flagship Report, Arabic version launch
This event was opened by IUCN Director General, Dr Grethel Aguilar who called attention to the need for taking a long-term, global approach towards transitioning to agricultural sustainability and emphasised the key role of cross-sector collaboration and Nature-based Solutions. Pascale Bonzom presented the report key findings and messages, and IUCN DDG Stewart Maginnis led a panel discussion with IFAD, IFPRI, the East African Farmers Federation and the Royal Commission for Alula to explore how the messages resonated with these different actors. He closed the session advocating for a new paradigm – one where food security and nature conservation are not competing goals but complementary objectives.
Download the report here.
5 December (15:00–16:30): The WEFE Nexus approach: From the strategic landscape to on-the-ground applications
This event featured Silvia Cardellino IUCN Programme Officer as panellist who, reflecting on what is needed for effective multistakeholder collaboration, highlighted a common vision, inclusive and participatory processes that work through conflicts and power dynamics, with support from excellent facilitation, as key elements and mentioned IUCN’s Common Ground approach and Regen10 as successful enabling examples. For relevant IUCN tools and knowledge products, she picked the Global Standard for NbS and the recently launched publication Sustainable Agriculture and Nature-based Solutions as impactful examples.
5 December (17:30–19:00): Soil health for food security and resilience
This event was opened by IUCN DDG Stewart Maginnis who highlighted the crucial role of healthy soils in improving productivity, sequestering carbon, safeguarding biodiversity, and empowering smallholder farmers. He emphasised how IUCN works towards bridging the gap between policy frameworks and practical implementation supported by tools, like the Land Health Monitoring Framework, and partnerships with farmers’ organisations. He called on participants to make soil health the foundation of our collective agenda, a point which also appeared in the CCD report “Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries”.
No livestream/recording available.
5 December (17:30–19:00): Launch of the GEF8 FSIP (Food Systems Integrated Programme)
This event featured IUCN DDG Stewart Maginnis as panellist, who, in his intervention, shared how IUCN is working towards transforming food and agricultural systems as one of its eight priority transformations. He pointed out facilitating multistakeholder dialogues and platforms, advocating for effective governance systems, policies and action plans, and developing adequate tools, metrics and knowledge products, as IUCN’s three essential catalytic actions. He also provided examples of IUCN’s engagement with the private sector towards sustainable agricultural supply chains.
For a complete account of all the proceedings and decisions at CCD COP16, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
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