Beijing, 20-21 August 2019 – The inception workshop of The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB): Promoting a Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sector–Implementation in China (TEEBAgriFood China Project), which is an EU-funded, UNEP-implemented with the assistance of UNEP-IEMP for its China implementation,was held on 20-21 August 2019 in Beijing.
The project, with China as one of the seven countries in scope (the other six include Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand), aims to stimulate biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provisioning for agricultural landscape by looking at interventions that claim to stimulate positive livelihood and biodiversity benefits based on an internationally agreed methodological framework addressing the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity.
“China is pushing forward the transformation of agricultural production from the pursuit of a quantitative growth to a simultaneous increase of quantity, quality and efficiency, and is paying attention to ecological functions along with productivity”, said Ms. ZHANG Yanping, a representative from the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs of China. She also acknowledged that the TEEBAgriFood project very much aligns with the country’s current endeavor towards sustainable agriculture.
Dr. Salman Hussain, the UNEP TEEB coordinator, stated that the project “looks at countries with a high level of development, rich in biodiversity as well as having a critically important agriculture sector”. He also stressed that applying the nexus approach throughout the whole value chain is crucial in providing solutions as well as implementing concrete change.
Mr. StéphaneBauguil, Projects Manager of the EU delegation to China, spoke at the opening, underlining the importance of consolidating network among the countries in scope to work together.
The one and half-day workshop provided opportunity for dialogue and mutual learning by bringing together government officials, international organization representatives as well as scientists from various institutions. It introduced the objectives and thematic focus of the project, encapsulated the primary interests and concerns of stakeholders, and identified a list of policy options for the project steering committee to consider for further implementation.
Prof. ZHANG Linxiu, director of UNEP-IEMP, expressed her gratitude for the amplitude of knowledge shared over the workshop and the support rendered by its participants.
The workshop is co-organized by the UNEP TEEB Office and UNEP-IEMP, and hosted by the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
