Nexus of biodiversity with food, nutritional and livelihood security
Louis Dreyfus Foundation and TERI, with the intent to encourage dialogue on agricultural bio-conservation and to set up an opportunity to explore the connect between biodiversity conservation and food, nutritional and Livelihood security, and finally creating a platform to share experiences of diverse stakeholders across the globe, organized a focus group discussion on 'Nexus of biodiversity with food, nutritional and livelihood security' as a special event during the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit on 7 February 2014.
The event was inaugurated with a welcome address by Dr Alok Adholeya, Director, Biotechnology and Management of Bio resources Division, TERI.
Dr Vibha Dhawan, Executive Director, TERI and Deputy Director, Borlaug Institute for South Asia, who chaired the first session on 'Conservation of Agricultural Biodiversity - Issues and Challenges', highlighted numerous significant concerns and impediments for biodiversity conservation in India.
Dr David Molden, Director General, ICIMOD, Nepal enlightened us with the abundance of biodiversity in Himalayan region and its implication in making the farming systems more resilient to climate change and other adversaries. Dr K S Murali, Senior program Officer, IDRC highlighted various aspects of food security and biodiversity. Dr Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Senior Vice Rector, UN University, shared various traditional methods adopted by different communities in Japan and India to make the farming system resilience. Mr Ajay Jakhar, Chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj, spoke about how government policies are incentivizing monocrop culture and triggering devastation of biodiversity.
The second Session on 'Food, nutritional and livelihood security: Can biodiversity provide a solution?' was chaired by Dr. Peter Kenmore, FAO representative of India. He shared various initiatives taken up by FAO with different stakeholders on biodiversity for food and agriculture. Dr Anil Parkash Joshi, Founder, Himalayan Environmental studies & Conservation Organization, highlighted various original marketing initiatives by his organization encouraging cultivation of high nutritious traditional crops among small farmers in the high hills of Uttarakhand. Dr Rakesh Bhardwaj, Senior scientist, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, emphasized on the nutritional value of traditional crops and shared his work carried out on exploring and securing biodiversity among the traditional crops and methods in the heart of Arunachal Pradesh. Dr Sadhana Bhagwat, Senior Associate, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, enlightened the audience with malnutrition status among Indian women and children. Strategies such as supplementation, fortification and dietary diversification, can together provide the solution for this problem in the short term, medium term and long term, respectively. Dr Nidhi P Chanana shared TERI’s work in various parts of India, viz. Uttarakhand, Assam and Himachal Pradesh. She also highlighted thematic areas and envisaged impacts of the recently launched project by TERI on similar aspects.
The event concluded with a panel discussion by Dr Dhawan, Dr Molden and Dr Joshi, wrapping up the proceedings and discussing the way forward. Finally, Dr Chanana gave the vote of thanks, acknowledging speakers and participants for their contribution.