Bonn, 16.07.2024: Effectively anchoring the protection of biodiversity in supply chains - how this can be achieved in leaps and bounds is the topic of the European conference "Biodiversity in Food Supply Chains", which will take place in Berlin from November 13-14, 2024.
For two days, around 150 experts from the food industry will discuss ways to better protect biodiversity and halt the dramatic loss of biodiversity. The focus will be on possible solutions for the biggest challenges: procurement and supply chains. The conference will be opened by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke and Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir.
 
Biodiversity loss as one of the biggest risks for companies
The first comprehensive and evidence-based report by the World Biodiversity Council IPBES on the state of our ecosystems from 2019 assumes that more than 75 percent of our planet's land areas worldwide are significantly degraded, i.e. the areas are devastated, polluted, deforested or converted to agricultural land. This has a negative impact on biodiversity and the food sector. The conference will therefore no longer be about whether and why the food sector needs to act, but about how we can achieve rapid and measurable success.
The World Biodiversity Council identifies one million animal and plant species that are so severely threatened that they could become extinct before the end of this century.
 
That would be one in eight species. A risk report from 2023 by the renowned World Economic Forum (WEF) lists the loss of biodiversity and the resulting threat of ecosystem collapse as one of the greatest risks for our society and companies over the next ten years, as ecosystem services - e.g. intact water balances, fertile soils, microclimate, pollination, diversity of varieties - are indispensable and irreplaceable for us humans and the food industry.

Protecting biodiversity to preserve our economic foundations
"In addition to taking responsibility for our global ecosystem, protecting biodiversity is also about preserving the economic basis for agriculture and the food industry," says Peter Zens, Chairman of the ‘Food for Biodiversity’ association. The conference is part of the "Unternehmen Biologische Vielfalt - UBi" project and is organized by the "Food for Biodiversity e.V." association and co-hosted by the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BVE). The UBi project is funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection as part of the Federal Biological Diversity Program.
 
Joint initiative of the food sector
Against this backdrop, the non-profit association "Food for Biodiversity", founded in March 2021, has set itself the goal of improving the protection of biodiversity throughout the food industry. The ambitious initiative brings together players in the food industry to drive the transformation of the food sector into sustainable and future-proof food systems. The members of the association - companies, standard organizations, organic and environmental associations, farming and food associations and research institutes - implement pilot projects, discuss incentive programs for farmers, provide training for employees and develop important tools such as the basic set of biodiversity criteria for food production.
The major challenges facing the food industry will be discussed at the conference: Risks due to the loss of biodiversity, stricter legal requirements, how the step from pilot projects to global implementation can succeed or how consumers can be sensitized to the topic. These and other topics will be covered in presentations, working groups and panel discussions. Representatives of food companies, suppliers, standards organizations, food associations, critical environmental organizations and governmental actors will participate.

You can find more information about the conference here.
Further information on UBi - Unternehmen Biologische Vielfalt can be found here.

Contact:
Food for Biodiversity e.V.
Oliver Peters, Project Manager
Phone: +49 228 1848694 13
E-mail: peters@food-biodiversity.de
food-biodiversity.de