Publications for policy makers

IUCN Flagship Report Series

The IUCN Flagship Report Series was launched in 2021 to demonstrate the importance of conserving nature for human well-being and all life on Earth, bringing nature conservation into mainstream political and economic decision-making.

Agriculture and conservation, the second in the Flagship Report Series, focuses on agriculture and nature. The interactions, synergies, and trade-offs between the two sit at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which calls for ending hunger and ensuring food security while also mandating the protection and restoration of nature. Whether the two can be achieved simultaneously, and if so how, are crucial questions for humanity and our planet. Agriculture and conservation sets out the positive and negative relationships between agriculture and nature conservation and mobilises new modelling approaches to examine both imperatives within a range of realistic policies.

The report is available in English and Arabic.

Policy and legal enabling conditions for sustainable agriculture: a multilevel comparative approach

Regulations and national laws are key to ensuring the transition to more sustainable agriculture at all levels from local farms to national, regional, and global levels. 
This 4 part Report identifies and assesses key areas of law and policy that require renewed attention to support the development and implementation of sustainable agriculture, particularly at the national level.  
The assessment spans international law and policy, regional instruments, and necessary updates to national laws and policies to enable, support, and effectively implement sustainable agriculture programs over the long term. It encompasses key areas such as biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, land use planning, environmental regulations, and farmer support to understand the importance of sustainable agriculture and adopt innovative practices.

Assessing the biodiversity-agriculture nexus

How should the relationship between biodiversity and agriculture be assessed? This report examines how international and European policies address the biodiversity-agriculture nexus, highlighting the need for improved integration and comparability of approaches. The insights will help policy-makers in creating effective policies, farmers in making informed decisions, companies in aligning with sustainability goals, and academics in conducting further research.

Exploring the future of vegetable oils

Globally, vegetable oil crops account for over one-third of all agricultural land and this is forecast to increase. No crop is good or bad in and of itself, and much depends on the contexts, including where and how it is planted, owned, managed, traded and consumed. This report explores what we need to do to improve the environmental, socio- economic, and nutritional outcomes of vegetable oil production.

The Common ground report

The Common ground report shows how achieving greater sustainability closely depends on agriculture, and how the future of farming relies on Nature and biodiversity conservation. Therefore reaching consensus between the worlds of agriculture and conservation is critical. The report concludes that a common ground for mutually beneficial action exists, and makes a series of recommendations which would improve the situation further.

Approaches to sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture needs to consider two inseparable, intertwined societal priorities – preserving the environment and providing safe and healthy food for all.  This report shows that different approaches to sustainable agriculture exist, that they have a number of important commonalities, but also that their diversity is a strength in itself. The challenge is to enable dialogue and create the market or regulatory environment that will help prioritise according to local contexts.

Conserving healthy soils

IUCN Globally, soil biodiversity has been estimated to contribute between US$1.5 and 13 trillion annually to the value of ecosystems services – the goods and services provided by healthy ecosystems, including the provision of food, hydrological services and regulation of climate. Current land degradation, chiefly due to chemical-fuelled, intensive agricultural production, is causing the loss of soil biodiversity, undermining the services provided by healthy soils. IUCN recommends that Governments should put in place policies and legislation, and promote land management practices which restore or preserve soil biodiversity.