Award-winning tool leverages agrobiodiversity for sustainable food systems

“The food system is at the center of multiple challenges that we’re facing. This includes the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, the malnutrition crisis, and a crisis of growing inequity. Within the food system, the entire supply chain depends on agrobiodiversity – the plants, animals, and microorganisms that support food and agriculture – and we’re not paying attention to its importance. We need to do more to eat it, use it, and save it in ways that catalyze the transition to a sustainable food system.” – Sarah Jones, co-creator of the Agrobiodiversity Index

The world has seen large investments and widespread actions aimed at halting human-induced climate change over the last few decades, while a relatively small amount of attention and funding has been given to halting biodiversity loss. Within this, finance and policies to halt the loss of agrobiodiversity remains almost completely neglected, even though this biodiversity is also being lost at an alarming rate.