Gender and social inclusion in agrobiodiversity conservation: From the 3rd International Agrobiodiversity Congress to CBD COP17

Agrobiodiversity is biocultural. Agricultural diversity is maintained not only through genetic resources, but
through the knowledge, practices, food cultures, territories and social institutions through which seeds and
varieties are selected, used, managed, exchanged and transmitted across generations. Conserving
agrobiodiversity therefore requires sustaining these relationships alongside biological diversity.
Women’s contributions to agrobiodiversity conservation depend on rights and agency. Women hold distinct
and specialised knowledge of seeds, cultivated and wild plant and animal species, including crops, crop wild
relatives and other forms of agrobiodiversity, foods and agricultural landscapes. Yet, gender inequalities in
rights to land and resources, decision-making authority and access to finance, services and markets can
constrain women’s ability to sustain and benefit from agricultural diversity.
Collective institutions are part of the infrastructure of agrobiodiversity conservation. Community seed banks,
farmers’ and producer organizations, women’s organizations and informal seed networks can support the
conservation and exchange of seeds and other plant and animal genetic resources, knowledge transmission,
collective action and adaptation to environmental changes.
Benefit-sharing should support continued custodianship. As the CBD advances implementation of the
multilateral mechanism on digital sequence information (DSI) and the Cali Fund, monetary and non-monetary
benefits can help sustain the people, knowledge systems and institutions through which agricultural genetic
diversity has been and continues to be maintained and developed.