Biocultural Diversity: Amplify Flourishing Diversity

This programme supports efforts to help the wider conservation and development sectors to understand how, why and where biological and cultural diversity are so important and how they are so closely linked. It supports work to help actors in these sectors to understand how empowering local communities and Indigenous Peoples to lead efforts to protect biocultural diversity can be integral to many long-term conservation and development strategies.

The concepts of biocultural diversity, Territories of Life and rights-based approaches to conservation have generally been slow to filter through to discussions on conservation and development finance, particularly agricultural finance. This can result in policies, practices and funding streams that do not take Territories of Life and Indigenous rights into account, and this in turn can be an obstacle to the achievement of conservation and human development goals.

Image © Shutterstock

Our programme supports a range of different networks and NGOs to use their influence and promote flourishing diversity:

African Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) is an alliance of civil society actors across Africa working to support a transition to agroecology.

three people in the forest holding fruits

It brings small-scale food producers, farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples, faith groups, consumers, women, youth and activists from across the continent of Africa to create a united and louder voice for food systems based on food sovereignty and diversity.

different types of red, yellow and white dried corn and indigenous seed

Gaia Foundation works with partners around the world to revive biocultural diversity, regenerate healthy ecosystems and strengthen community self-governance for climate change resilience.

It works on issues of food, seed and climate change resilience, Earth Jurisprudence, sacred lands and wilderness and helping communities build regenerative alternatives to mining and extractivism.

LifeMosaic supports communities and movements to build their capacity to protect their rights, cultures and territories and to determine their own futures.

In particular it plays a critical role in supporting the emergence of the next generation of indigenous leaders, with the calling, critical awareness, skills and love of their culture to defend and look after their territories.

* Images (L to R): Global Justice Now/Abrono Organic Farming Project (ABOFAP) (CC BY 2.0), Shutterstock, LifeMosaic

Biocultural diversity and the knowledge and lifeways that protect and enhance it, are rapidly being lost due to dominant economic, social and political forces that favour a homogenised ‘monoculture’ approach to addressing food insecurity, poverty and wider societal challenges.

Image: Andrew Fogg (CC BY 2.0)

Partner spotlight: Agroecology Fund

The AgroEcology Fund is a network of funders that support collaborations undertaking advocacy, science and movement building to amplify agroecological solutions to global food production.

Beyond its diverse grants to initiatives around the world, it also uses its power as a networked group of donors, scientists and practitioners to influence debates on food policy and financing. It works to transform the dominant narrative from one that favours commercial, high input, large-scale monoculture to ‘feed the world’ to improving our understanding of how small-scale family farmers can produce healthy, diverse food for all.

Image: Flickr/TXMX2 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Read our interview with Daniel Moss, Executive Director of the Agroecology Fund.

“I wish our world would always be learning from nature. Then everyone would have a different world. Because when we don’t connect with nature, you lose at once all the meaning of life.”

Puwe Puyanawa, Puyana People, State Acre, Brazil