Fit for Biodiversity

Biodiversity Governance and Performance in the Food Sector

Field of action: Agriculture & the Food Sector

Project goals: The project motivates and empowers the food sector to promote biodiversity-enhancing services in agriculture above and beyond legal requirements.

Project area: European Union

Duration: September 2024 – August 2028

Background

Alongside climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the associated ecosystems is one of the biggest global crises. Intensive agricultural land management is considered to be one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Food producers and retailers, in combination with the agricultural sector, have a considerable influence on the preservation of biodiversity. The food industry can utilise this through quality standards and financial rewards to promote biodiversity.

Implementation

The project builds on the experience of the ‘Food for Biodiversity’ sector initiative and supports the establishment of new initiatives in the food sector in other EU countries.
In a Europe-wide network, basic biodiversity criteria for the food sector are to be agreed and methods and procedures for monitoring harmonised.
The project will improve the knowledge of managers in the food sector about biodiversity as well as about biodiversity instruments and incentive systems for farmers.
Auditors and environmental verifiers will be trained to verify biodiversity information in corporate sustainability reports.

The Lake Constance Foundation is working on two main areas:

Incentive systems from the food trade for biodiversity services in agriculture are being identified across Europe, their effectiveness evaluated and recommendations communicated to the food sector.
Training concepts focussing on biodiversity are being developed for environmental verifiers and auditors who will be responsible for or certify CSRD reports in the future.