{"id":15226,"date":"2022-05-15T02:36:48","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T00:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futurefoodinstitute.org\/?p=15226"},"modified":"2022-05-18T04:12:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T02:12:57","slug":"regeneraction-2022-biodiversity-demands-a-regenerative-way-of-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futurefoodinstitute.org\/ja\/2022\/05\/15\/regeneraction-2022-biodiversity-demands-a-regenerative-way-of-living\/","title":{"rendered":"RegenerAction 2022: Biodiversity demands a regenerative way of living"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Challenge: Embracing nature-based solutions<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\ud83d\udce2 How can we foster forms of development and prosperity that can equally preserve, restore, and regenerate the state of biological diversity?<\/strong> How can we accelerate the path towards nature-based solutions and make policies, economies, business, and consumption models more respectful of Mother Earth?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why it is important: defending natural richness<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2757 Everything around us is part of an ecosystem that exists thanks to biodiversity and the interconnected relationships it creates. The variety and variability of life on Earth, which include \u201cdiversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems,\u201d as the Convention of Biological Diversity<\/a> reiterates, is the web that provides living beings survival on Earth, even though most of them remain unknown.<\/p>\n

There are over 80,000 tree species discovered<\/a>, but less than 1% have been studied while it is believed that at least one-third of the 1.3 million invertebrate species and 70,000 vertebrate species are still unknown.<\/a> Yet, their presence and service are crucial:<\/a> we owe plankton 20% of all photosynthesis on Earth, we owe mammals such as bats the power to directly pollinate the flowers of over 500 plants, or from invisible biodiversities such as earthworms services of increasing soil nutrients, drainage, and better regulating the soil structure. Fundamental ecosystem services such as improving air quality, climate mitigation, and better water quality, all depend on biodiversity, including access to food and nutrients.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more than 175,000 species of fish are the major source of nutrition for 3 billion people around the world, just as the over 30,000 species of terrestrial edible plants<\/a> provide 80% of the human diet. Yet, as of 2022 more than 40,000 species are listed<\/a> as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. Also closer home, with a 20% decrease in terrestrial biodiversity populations, a 28% decrease in freshwater ecosystems, and a 52% decrease in marine environments, the Mediterranean basin is increasingly at risk of resembling a natural desert.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is clear evidence of the importance of replacing our current highly intensive and extractive production models with regenerative ones, starting with food, one of the world\u2019s most important contributors to and victims of climate change. Promoting food and biological diversity also maximizes nutrients, one of the biggest challenges that our global society is facing with the triple burden of malnutrition, the \u201clargest single underlying cause of death worldwide,\u201d as reported by the World Health Organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eventually, preserving and valorizing biodiversity will benefit not only human survival but also mental well-being, with increasing studies on biophilia<\/a>, or the healing power of nature for body and mind, social well-being<\/a> with outdoor recreational activities, and global economies, with the market opening up towards green jobs.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The EU Strategy: from biodiversity to achieve climate neutrality<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa The European Commission is committed to undertaking all possible measures to reverse biodiversity loss and protect nature both in Europe and globally. To do so, one of the main strategies to implement the EU Green Deal is the\u00a0EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030<\/a><\/strong> which is a comprehensive, ambitious, and long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. Establishing a larger EU-wide network of protected areas on land and at sea that enlarges the Natura 2000 areas<\/strong>, launching an EU nature restoration plan, ensuring better implementation and progress tracking on biological protection, and introducing measures to tackle the global biodiversity challenge are some of the commitments and actions to be delivered by 2030.<\/p>\n

These are objectives that are further reinforced through the European Climate Law<\/a>, a legally binding regulation to lead the European Union towards climate neutrality by 2050; the EU Green Track,<\/a> a platform created this year – the EU year for youth – to mobilize young people to share their hopes and concerns about nature and biodiversity in light of the UN Biodiversity Conference scheduled for this summer; and the new EU Forest Strategy<\/a>, which sets ambitious objectives including protecting all EU primary and old-growth forests and developing guidelines for biodiversity-friendly afforestation, reforestation, and tree-planting.<\/p>\n

Another essential part of the European Green Deal meant to safeguard biodiversity is the Farm to Fork Strategy<\/a><\/strong>, conceived to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. Based on the idea that to achieve sustainable food systems it is necessary to reverse the loss of biodiversity, the Strategy is aimed at reducing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, detrimental causes of biodiversity loss, while preserving high-diversity landscape features and boosting organic farming.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Regener-Action needs education, innovation, and Community for Biodiversity\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\ud83c\udf31 Future Food Institute is committed to contributing to the protection, conservation, valorization, and enlivenment of biodiversity in different ways and forms starting from food:<\/p>\n