Objectives

The purpose of the conference is to discuss the interdependencies between biodiversity and food security under ecological, economic and societal challenges, to strengthen a holistic understanding of the related topics and to overcome trade-offs by developing synergies.

The conference will cover a range of topics in the biodiversity-food security nexus, including,

(i) Impacts of diet change on human and nature including aspects on novel food resources and biodiversity conservation, wild animals consumption and diet change;

(ii) Social-ecological consequences and opportunities of changing farming systems from the perspectives of society and nature;

(iii) Rethinking intensification including aspects on intensification vs. expansion and closed systems like aquaculture;

(iv) Sustainable use of biodiversity for food security, economical and governance issues.

The conference also addresses relevant cross-cutting issues for these themes, including

(i) behavioural change of humans due to a growing understanding of sustainability and an increasing sense of responsibility for nature;

(ii) technical improvement and development for an effective and sustainable use of resources;

(iii) increasing use of functional food which seeks to influence major health-related parameters in consumers in a long-term manner;

(iv) new concepts of health, including the health of humans, animals and ecosystems;

(v) development of a science-policy interface (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - IPBES) including all major stakeholders into the discussion of the topics.

The conference is intended for a broad and multi-disciplinary community of scientists from basic and applied research, involving also policy-makers and other stakeholders concerned with various field of relevant biodiversity and food security. It is expected that the conference will raise the profile of societally-relevant biodiversity research in the participating institutions, as well as opening for new partnerships between German and French scientists.