EventBiodiversity Fund, eight years of experience
Diversity-based production in agro- and agroforestry ecosystems

What is Agricultural Biodiversity?
Agricultural biodiversity encompasses the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms which are necessary to sustain key functions of the agroecosystem, its structure and processes for, and in support of, food production and the human right to food.
It results from the interaction between the environment, genetic resources and the management systems and practices used by culturally diverse peoples resulting in the different ways land and water resources are used for production. It is simultaneously the product of and the basis for diverse, resilient food production systems (CTDT)
On March 18, 2010 an expert meeting was held based on the Fund's experiences "Biodiversity, a strategic value in resilient food production systems" Organisers: HIVOS and IUCN NL/Natureandpoverty.net. The reprot is located in the FIND section.
The Fund, managed by HIVOS and Oxfam Novib has been financially supported by DGIS and obtained advise by IUCN NL. It was meant specifically for NGOs forging international co-operation.
Well-known partners from this Fund have been a.o GRAIN, IFOAM, ISEAL, Phytotrade, the CBDC (among other its Asian partner SEARICE) and others. Check out the FIND section here for useful publications!
In November 2007 Hivos and Oxfam Novib jointly organised the conference ‘Social and Environmental Responsibility in Progress’, together with IUCN NL and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The key question addressed at this conference was: To what extent can quality systems contribute to the protection of biodiversity? See the FIND section.
