CMS Family input for the scoping process of the Nexus Assessment FOOD

Following IPBES Notification EM/2019/17 on Opportunity to provide early input to the scoping process of the IPBES nexus and transformative change assessments: Online conferences and the resulting third session of the online conference held on 2 October 2019, the CMS Family would like to provide the following inputs: 

• According to the topic of priority a) of the Rolling Programme up to 2030 as approved by IPBES Plenary-7, the Nexus Assessment should focus on addressing the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health and between biodiversity and climate change, with a view to informing the development of policies and actions. The Nexus assessment should also consider the role of connectivity in ensuring integrity and resilience in socioecological systems.
• In relation to the interlinkages between food and biodiversity, the Nexus assessment could pay attention to:
• migratory species of wild animals as a component of biodiversity.   
  
   
• wild animals used as a source of food and the harvest systems which often cause crashes in animal stocks, because of lack of reference to sustainable, shared and transboundary harvesting models. Unsustainable harvest within a migratory system of a given species/population is too often not properly taken into account. The assessment could consider and review different models of wildlife harvesting, in order to support those that make consumption of migratory species as food sustainable. With reference to fish-stocks, the management of marine species in areas beyond national jurisdictions requires attention since it will have a great impact on food resource availability and the use of these resources should be based on shared and sustainable harvesting models.

• In addition to addressing the sustainable harvesting of commercial species, the assessment could help increase the understanding of the impacts of the subsistence use of wild species, terrestrial, avian and aquatic, taking into account the survival and regeneration of these species, in the context of growing human populations and pressures on ecosystems. To this end, there is need to establish the necessary linkages with the ongoing IPBES assessment on the sustainable use of wild species.