Food & Biodiversity in Action: learning from 10 journeys to sustainable futures

The Bundle

This book presents a set of 10 use cases, also available separately in a 1- and 4-page format. Collectively they illustrate how biodiversity and food systems integration is already happening in practice - across landscapes, markets, policies, finance, and social organization - and what it actually takes to make it work. The examples also highlight the vital role of Indigenous peoples and local communities as custodians of biodiversity, showing how their knowledge and practices are integral to weaving ecological stewardship into food system resilience.

Designed for policymakers and ministries eager to shape food and biodiversity policies that benefit both people and planet; private sector leaders and SMEs building resilient, biodiversity-friendly business models; civil society and NGOs creating change on the ground; researchers and educators advancing innovation and evidence; and funders and investors seeking proof that food and biodiversity can generate returns for people and nature – this bundle offers a window into practical innovations and collaboration opportunities.
Together, these ten journeys reveal that a fundamental transformation is underway, where biodiversity and food systems are integrated to achieve win-wins between food security and our planet.
We recognize this collection as a small but meaningful set of examples, each connected to broader global efforts. The bundle is therefore represented as a beehive that can grow over time and work together for change. We hope that by sharing this initial set of ten journeys toward sustainable futures we can strengthen collective learning, spark new partnerships, and encourage others to contribute their own experiences.

To support a shared understanding, a glossary is available in the bundle presenting key working definitions and terms relevant to biodiversity and food systems.

The Use Cases: 10 Journeys toward Sustainable Futures

Guardians Paid Fairly

Rewarding Custodians of Potato Diversity Through Direct Benefit-sharing
Association of Guardians of Native Potato of Peru (AGAUPAN), International Potato Center (CIP), Peru

In the Peruvian Andes, Indigenous farming families serve as custodians of hundreds of traditional potato varieties, preserving cultural heritage and resources vital for global food security and climate resilience. Since 2014, the Association of Guardians of Native Potato of Peru (AGUAPAN) has managed a voluntary payment system that connects Dutch potato companies with custodian farmers, providing unconditional annual payments for conservation.

Desert Oasis Revival

Habiba Community Regenerates Egypt's Desert into a Thriving Biodiversity Hub
Habiba Community

In the arid landscape of Nuweiba, South Sinai –where rain may fall only once every two years– Habiba Community has transformed 16,000 square metres of barren coastal desert into thriving green oases. Habiba, meaning ‘beloved’ in Arabic, is
an agroecological living laboratory of regenerative food production, ecological restoration, and Indigenous Bedouin community empowerment that has inspired over 100 farms across the region to adopt biodiversity-positive practices.

Bridging the Divide

Pioneering Integration of Food Systems into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans in Colombia
Wold Wildlife Fund (WWF) 

Colombia’s integrated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was shaped through strategic advocacy and inclusive dialogues that engaged over 16,000 participants across 23 regions. Among them, a dedicated group of multi-stakeholders focused on analyzing the strategic dimensions of sustainable agrifood systems, ensuring that this key sector was well reflected in the national strategy.

Resilient Rangelands

Building Food System Resilience in Kenya's Rangelands by Integrating Water, Food, and Biodiversity
SNV Kenya and Partners

Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) cover 80 percent of the country and support millions of people, livestock, and wildlife. Yet recurrent droughts, invasive species, and widespread land degradation have left communities increasingly vulnerable, driving conflict between farmers, herders, and wildlife. Traditional sectoral interventions have struggled to address these interconnected pressures. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus offers a more integrated approach, recognising the interdependence of resources and the need to manage them collectively. This approach was tested through the LISTEN project (Laikipia, Isiolo, Samburu Transforming the Environment through Nexus), which brought together national and county governments, pastoralist and farming communities, civil society organizations, and research institutions. The project demonstrated how cross-sectoral partnerships can transform vulnerable ecosystems, connecting rangeland restoration, water management, and food security.

Schools Nourish Biodiversity

Mainstreaming Agrobiodiversity in School Meals to Catalyze Food Systems Transformation
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (The Alliance), School Meals Coalition (SMC), The Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition (SHN Consortium)

School feeding programmes reach over 450 million children globally, making them one of the largest public food system interventions and a primary tool for addressing child hunger and poverty. Well-designed school meal programmes can further catalyze broader food systems change by providing children with healthy, equitable meals produced sustainably, protecting biodiversity, and minimizing environmental impact. A key, underutilized lever for achieving such “planet-friendly” meals is agrobiodiversity. Agrobiodiversity is the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, including crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries. Integrating diverse, locally adapted foods into school menus can improve nutrition, support resilient farms and livelihoods, and contribute to environmental sustainability.

Finance Protects Nature

Private Credit as a Driver of Biodiversity-Positive Food Systems
SAIL Investments

Protecting biodiversity is not only an environmental priority, but also a financial necessity. Strategic financing is essential, and private credit plays a critical role in emerging markets where food systems overlap with vital ecosystems. SAIL Investments (SAIL) shows how innovative financing in the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sectors can unlock biodiversity outcomes at scale. By embedding legally binding sustainability targets into loan covenants, it aligns strong, risk-adjusted returns with forest protection, emissions reduction, and resilient rural livelihoods. This demonstrates that strategic finance can be a pivotal driver of food systems transformation and biodiversity conservation, making such investments both practical and profitable.

Markets Help Restore Watersheds

Collective Action for Water Stewardship to ensure Biodiversity-Food Systems Integration
Nature's Pride

Nature’s Pride, European market leader in exotic fruits and vegetables, has built a collaborative approach to address water stress and biodiversity loss across its global operations. Starting in Peru’s Ica watershed in 2018, the company brought together actors along the value-chain, from European retailers to growers, through multi-stakeholder collaboration to manage water and biodiversity at landscape level. Water became the organizing principle, providing a concrete entry point that connects ecosystems, agriculture, and food security. Building on the Ica experience, partnerships in Peru, Chile, and Spain show how markets can help restore watersheds when linked to collective, landscape-level stewardship, complementing farm-level audits with broader collaboration on the water–biodiversity–food nexus and strengthening food system resilience.

Visioning Food Futures

Participatory Foresight Drives Biodiversity Integration in Food Systems
Foresight4Food Initiative, Nakuru County Government, The Results for Africa Institute (RAI)

In Kenya’s agricultural heartland, Nakuru County shows how participatory foresight planning can shift institutional thinking to better integrate biodiversity with economic development for long-term food security. Through evidence-based visioning with a wide range of stakeholders, a Manifesto for Change was embedded into county plans and budgets. It also fostered institutional champions promoting agroecological practices and sustainable finance within broader circular economy goals. Strategic policy engagement, strong community ownership, and multi-stakeholder platforms, including unconventional partnerships, proved critical in driving systemic change in the local food system, linking healthy ecosystems with inclusive economic opportunities. The Nakuru experience highlights how collaboration, transformative leadership, and iterative learning can connect grassroots action to county and national frameworks.

Companies Scale Regeneration

Business Coalitions Driving Biodiversity-Positive Food Systems
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Biodiversity is fundamental to global food security, yet agriculture, the sector that depends most on it, is also the biggest driver of ecosystem degradation. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) works to address this contradiction by mobilizing leading companies to embed biodiversity and regenerative farming within global food and land use systems. Through policy advocacy, business platforms, and collaborative initiatives, WBCSD aims to reduce agriculture’s ecological footprint while strengthening resilience and long-term food security. One example is One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), a cross-sector coalition advancing regenerative agriculture and supporting enabling regulatory frameworks. By engaging global actors including European companies with extensive international operations, OP2B demonstrates how private sector leadership can influence policy, scale regenerative practices, and create biodiversity-positive supply chains.

Landscapes Restored Together

Integrating Biodiversity and Food Systems Through Multi-Stakeholder Landscape Partnerships
Commonland

Integrated landscape approaches have grown globally as an effective management scale to address interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity that fragmented, sector-based strategies have proven inadequate to resolve. Moving from concept to implementation requires navigating complex inclusion, governance structures, and demonstrating long-term impact. Commonland catalyzes landscape restoration by bringing farmers, conservationists, businesses, and governments into structured partnerships through the 4 Returns Framework. Guiding multi-stakeholder collaborations through a systematic process, the framework targets four critical returns—inspiration, social capital, natural regeneration, and financial sustainability. This supports a shift from fragmented conservation towards integration of conservation and food systems. Evidence from proof-of-concepts across diverse geographies demonstrates the potential for reconciling agricultural development with environmental conservation. Robust long-term evaluation continues and supports adaptive management.

This use case bundle publication was commissioned and financed by NFP, in collaboration with glocolearning, and carried out by a team from KANDS Collective under the technical leadership of Sabrina Trautman, Elke Vandamme and Emilie Smith Dumont. 

🐝We are very grateful for the excellent collaboration with all partners involved in bringing these use cases and the full bundle to life! 🐝