From 20 to 22 May 2025, the Third International Agrobiodiversity Congress convened in Kunming, China, under the theme “Agrobiodiversity for People and Planet.” The event served as a global platform to facilitate exchange on the current status of agrobiodiversity, its emerging trends and challenges, and to identify priority actions for collaborative efforts on its conservation and sustainable use.

Participants shared new knowledge, technologies, and practices from across the research and farming communities and explored inclusive mechanisms to strengthen joint action across sectors and regions.

Representing the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO), Gunsham Seeborun, WFO Board Member for the African Constituency, delivered a powerful message on behalf of family farmers worldwide: farmers are not only food producers—they are stewards of biodiversity and key actors in delivering nature-positive solutions.

Seeborun further highlighted that farmers play a critical role in conserving agrobiodiversity while contributing to climate change mitigation, soil health, and long-term food security. Their work is vital to maintaining the ability of food systems to feed the global population with healthy, diverse food. Importantly, Seeborun called for the formal recognition of farmers’ contributions, proposing the development of an Agrobiodiversity Practice Certification—inspired by existing models such as Halal certification—as a way to acknowledge and incentivise.

These messages resonate with WFO’s broader advocacy, which emphasises that agrobiodiversity is where farming and biodiversity meet, shaped by generations of farmers and essential to healthy diets, resilient ecosystems, and rural economies. As a core component of resilient and sustainable agriculture, agrobiodiversity also serves as a risk diversification portfolio for farmers to adapt to future shocks. However, the rapid loss of farmers’ varieties and landraces threatens dietary diversity, ecosystem services, and rural livelihoods.

Also, while multilateral negotiations on climate, biodiversity and desertification are often siloed, their impacts converge at the farm level, directly affecting agricultural productivity and community resilience.

WFO’s Key Messages on Agrobiodiversity

In Kunming, WFO reaffirmed its call for:

• Early and active involvement of farmers and their organisations in shaping biodiversity and climate policy.
• Stronger cross-sector partnerships with the private sector, research institutions, and civil society.
• Improved access to climate and biodiversity finance, with dedicated support for in-situ conservation and sustainable on-farm practices.
• Recognition and fair reward for agro-ecosystem services, including agrobiodiversity.

Farmers must be at the centre of biodiversity and climate solutions. Policy design must be grounded in farmers’ lived realities, supported by evidence, and tailored to the diversity of farming systems around the world. These efforts must also strike a balance between environmental and climate goals and the fundamental priority of ensuring food security and ending hunger.

The participation built on the momentum of the first-ever WFO Policy on Biodiversity and Nature, adopted in 2024, which reinforces the farming community’s commitment to nature-positive action and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The outcomes of the Congress, including the anticipated release of the 2025 Kunming Manifesto “Agrobiodiversity for People and Planet,” are expected to help shape the future global agenda on biodiversity in food and farming.