Europe and Central Asia Regional Synthesis for The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture

Abstract

The report summarizes the state of biodiversity for food and agriculture in the region, based largely on information provided in nineteen country reports submitted to FAO as part of the reporting process for the report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. Europe and Central Asia is a vast region characterized by a great variety of climates, topographies, aquatic environments and soil types, and hence also biodiversity. With respect to biodiversity for food and agriculture in particular, the region experienced substantial losses in the twentieth century. Changing land-use patterns have been identified as one of the main causes of these losses. In addition, the use of chemical inputs and heavy machinery has increased and traditional practices such as extensive livestock farming have been abandoned in many places. The report suggests the need to strengthen research on associated biodiversity (particularly in soils) and ecosystem functioning. Advancing research in this area requires effective prioritization of the species to be targeted, a continuous and sufficient flow of funding and adequate human resources. With respect to the latter, the region remains short of species specialists and taxonomists to conduct survey and identification work.