G7-Elmau-Progress-Report-2015-Biodiversity-A-vital-foundation-for-sustainable-development

62 G7 ELMAU PROGRESS REPORT5. Interlinkages withother G7 commitmentsKey messages• The G7 has active commitments in the fields of biodiversity, food security, health and climate change andrecognizes the links between these commitments. Activities of the G7 therefore aim at reducing trade-offsand fostering synergies between measures for these areas and can help to address poverty by increasingresilience.• The G7 countries employ a range of activities in relation to biodiversity and food security. They try toreduce food loss and waste, promote agro-ecology and sustainable use of natural resources as well aspromote the conservation of crop varieties. The utilization of agro-biodiversity contributes to moreresilient agricultural systems.• G7 efforts to slow the loss of biodiversity can support – at least indirectly – several health commitmentsgiven by the G7, for example by securing genetic diversity and its chemical components with potentialfor pharmaceutical applications.• To address climate change mitigation in synergy with biodiversity protection, G7 countries strongly engagein the protection of forests to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Also, with regard to adaptation, synergieswith biodiversity are addressed through the support of ecosystem-based adaptation.Addressing biodiversity loss can help contribute towardother development goals and G7 commitments (see AnnexA). Biodiverse – and therefore resilient – ecosystems canbetter adapt to climate change, help to mitigate climatechange, ensure the availability of good quality water andreduce health pressures; genetic diversity increases foodsecurity; healthy ecosystems provide a bundle of ecosystemservices that are the natural foundation to sustaining economicdevelopment. While the three commitments on foodsecurity, health and climate change are discussed individuallyin terms of their interconnections with biodiversity,these deliberations also reveal that food security, health andclimate change are linked as well.growing to an estimated 9.6 billion people by 2050 (UN 2013),this concern becomes even more significant. In recent years,the G8 has prioritized food security and nutrition on its agenda.Food security is multi-faceted (see Box 5.1) and interactswith biodiversity in a variety of ways (see Figure 5.1).5.1 Biodiversity and food security5.1.1 G7 efforts to address interactions betweenbiodiversity and food securityCurrently, an estimated 805 million people are chronicallyundernourished (FAO et al. 2014). With the world populationNew community seedbank. Ethiopia. Bioversity International/C.Fadda