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Biodiversity for Resilience Against Natural Disasters

Food Tank Nov 11, 2018
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Giving Compass’ Take:

•  Researchers from various food policy and agricultural groups all agree that biodiversity can be the key to building resilience against climate change. 

• The author explains that biodiversity exists on three levels. What are the specific challenges at each level that farmers and agricultural experts need to address? 

• Read the Giving Compass Environmental Issue Guide for donors to learn more about climate change and biodiversity.  


Climate change is increasingly putting pressure on farmers and the global food systems, according to researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the transdisciplinary International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES). These groups and others are highlighting the importance of resilience — an ecosystem’s capacity to resist or recover from stress, shocks, and disturbances — for the security and productivity of the world’s food and farming systems in the face of climate change.

Resilience matters most for feeding the world’s growing population as the climate changes, according to these leading food security and agriculture groups, and agricultural biodiversity can be key to building it.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines agricultural biodiversity as the diversity among plants, animals, and microorganisms directly or indirectly used for agriculture and food production.

Agricultural biodiversity exists at three levels, all of which are important for climate adaptation. On a regional level, agricultural biodiversity involves farms in proximity to one another growing and supporting a range of different crops and species. At the farm level, crop diversity can mean farmers employ sustainability measures like crop rotation to maintain soil health, or agroforestry, or intercropping. Farmers utilize genetic diversity of crops when they grow several different species of a crop rather than one variety.

Research from CGIAR, FAO, and others over last two decades has concluded that biodiversity significantly contributes to resilience, and furthermore that a combination of biodiversity-increasing strategies often yields the greatest results.

Read the full article about how biodiversity can help mitigate damage from natural disasters at Food Tank.

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If you are looking for more articles and resources for Climate, take a look at these Giving Compass selections related to impact giving and Climate.

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    How to Tackle Water and Agriculture Challenges Through Impact Investing

    By ImpactAssets While impact investing is frequently associated with direct private equity and debt investing, the reality is that impact and financial returns may be enhanced by also investing in publicly traded companies providing solutions at scale. Investing in publicly traded companies addresses two of the biggest challenges impact investing has faced in its nascent stage– creating impact at scale and providing new sources of attractive opportunities for impact investor capital. The provision of water and food are central sustainability challenges that provide good examples of the complementary nature of private equity investments that provide focused solutions and publicly traded solution providers impacting the challenges at scale. The Challenge: Water An estimated $22 trillion investment will be required to meet the need for this precious resource through 2030, which will be the largest component of global infrastructure spending in the next 20 years. Impact at Scale (Public Equities): Public equities companies across each of these segments are contributing to creating water solutions at scale. Water and Waste Water Utilities - Companies managing infrastructure and delivery of water and/or treating waste water for reuse or safe remediation back into the environment. Water Infrastructure – Companies providing pipes, pumps, seals and valves as well as design, engineering and construction services. Water Technology – Companies providing filtration, disinfection, test and measurement products and metering. The Challenge: Agriculture A growing global population along with increased affluence and changing diets in the developing world will continue to drive increased demand for food. Demand is expected to expand by 27 percent in 2030, accelerating to an increase of at least 70 percent by mid century. With approximately 38 percent of the earth currently used for farming, the supply of arable land for farming is relatively fixed. Impact at Scale (Public Equities): Sustainably meeting the world’s food needs will require an integrated approach that considers the need to increase crop yields while minimizing environmental impacts and ensuring equity across large and small players in the agricultural value chain. Companies providing agricultural solutions operate across 4 sectors: Agricultural Producers – Farmers who provide grains, vegetables and livestock. Agricultural Suppliers – Companies providing fertilizers, seeds, crop protection and machinery that enable the Producers to increase crop yields. Agricultural Services – Companies providing vital services to ensure quality and manage and transport increasing volumes. Agricultural Processors – Companies that take raw products and process them for delivery to consumers.


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