Highlights from the netWORKing Dinner on Biodiversity & Food Systems at UNFSS +4

The UNFSS+4 discussions repeatedly acknowledged three critical truths:

1. Food systems are both a major driver of biodiversity loss and deeply dependent on biodiversity.
2. Biodiversity underpins food security, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods.
3. Trust and good human connections are critical for building stronger partnerships and achieving collective progress.

While this recognition was strong, there was little space within the official program for deepening conversations and connections for stronger collective actions on biodiversity and food systems interlinkages. This dinner was set up to fill that gap by creating an informal yet purposeful space to allow such crucial conversations to take place.

Connecting diversity

The evening gathered a diverse mix of actors, including indigenous representatives, farmers, private sector leaders, civil society advocates, youth, and researchers, each of the 45 participants bringing unique perspectives, experiences, and solutions.

The format of the event encouraged deep dialogue to strengthen co-creation. The aim was to connect across disciplines and sectors, explore collaboration opportunities, and identify shared priorities that could drive integrated biodiversity–food system action forward. Co-creation is more than aligning your vision with those that already agree. It requires listening with curiosity to understand what drives others, asking questions instead of being judgmental, which only can take place in a safe space where all actors are committed to creating such an environment together.

Key topics at the table

The programme followed a World Café format, with three thematic tables designed to spark concrete, actionable insights:

• Global Engagement: Reflecting on UNFSS and looking for shared opportunities to raise the profile of biodiversity–food system linkages in global and regional platforms.
• Ethiopia & Country Engagement: Identifying challenges and opportunities for action within Ethiopia and learning from actions already taking shape in diverse countries and contexts.
• Shared Messages: Exploring across sectors and scales how to strengthen shared messages that are compelling and can inspire action.

Key Outcomes

• Rich exchange of perspectives: Participants really valued the opportunity to connect with each other and to share their knowledge, visions, and ideas with each other in a safe environment.
• Momentum for action: The dialogue revealed a shared appetite for stronger joint advocacy and collaboration, both globally and locally, on the interdependencies between biodiversity and food systems.
• Alignment opportunities: Early ideas emerged on framing unified messages and linking efforts to upcoming events, policy processes and in-country actions.

Next Steps

The depth and diversity of the conversations confirmed the need for ongoing facilitation within the Biodiversity & Food Systems Community of Practice. Building on this dinner, NFP will:

• Pull together and share the insights from the evening.
• Weave them into the work within our Biodiversity & Food Systems Partnership
• Keep the momentum going in other spaces

Reflection

This dinner demonstrated the value of intentional, well-curated spaces for building and deepening mutual understanding, trust and relations during major international events. By combining the informality of a shared meal with structured, purposeful dialogue, the event helped turn the recognition of the biodiversity–food systems nexus into a stronger network for collective progress. As the information shared was incredibly rich, we will take a bit of time to further digest all that was shared. We thank everybody that joined us in Addis and look forward to continuing building and strengthening this community with you.