The World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) has submitted its first-ever contribution to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), outlining farmers’ views on strengthening coherence between climate and biodiversity policies, with particular attention to their linkages with food security and implementation in the agricultural sector.

This submission, stemming from a joint undertaking of the WFO Working Group on Climate Change and the WFO Working Group on Nature and Biodiversity, marks a double first for WFO: it is both the Organisation’s first formal input to the CBD process since the WFO became an official observer in 2024, and the first product of joint work between the two Working Groups.

In its submission, WFO highlighted the interconnected nature of the three Rio Conventions — the CBD, UNFCCC, and UNCCD — and offered the WFO experience aligning farmers’ contributions in a call for greater coordination across different processes. While discussions may take place in separate multilateral fora, connections are particularly evident at the farm level, where biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change intersect and affect agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods.

In view of the above, the WFO:

• Sees opportunities for continued cooperation among the three Rio Conventions through joint events, technical briefs, and knowledge products.
• Strongly supports reducing duplication and maximizing limited resources for planning, implementation, monitoring, and finance.
• Emphasises that agriculture efforts must be farmer-centric to unlock the potential of farmers—especially women and youth—in grounding discussions, identifying indicators, and turning commitments into action.
• Calls for empowering farmers’ organisations and cooperatives as key partners in designing and implementing actions, ensuring effective engagement and financial flows.
• Offers WFO as a platform for experience-sharing and consensus-building among farmers’ organisations globally, including on the adoption of frontier technologies such as AI.
• Supports formal engagement of farmers as active observers in the CBD (and potentially the UNCCD), building on WFO’s UNFCCC With meaningful engagement and resources, a Farmers Major Group could ensure farmers’ knowledge and innovation are consistently reflected across discussions.

The contribution was submitted in response to the recent invitation for inputs under CBD COP Decision 16/22, which seeks views from Parties and stakeholders on how to enhance policy coherence between climate and biodiversity agendas.

As global processes move toward greater integration, WFO stands ready to contribute its expertise and ensure that farmers’ voices and practical knowledge help shape coherent, inclusive, and impactful solutions.

READ THE FULL SUBMISSION HERE