Ideas competition: agriculture and biodiversity

Ten finalists compete in coming up with the best sustainable agriculture solution.

On the website Solution Search, different organisations were able to submit their solutions designed to increase biological diversity on agricultural land. An international jury from fields including nature conservation, development cooperation, the media and financial services have selected the ten best entries out of a total of 338. The winner will be chosen between now and 11 July and will receive a prize of 30,000 US dollars.

Solution Search is a global competition aiming to identify and reward innovative nature conservation approaches. All ten competitors have developed innovative ideas that facilitate sustainable agriculture and have been successfully implemented.

In addition to the main prize, 15,000 US dollars will also be up for grabs in each of the water, food security, biodiversity and social categories. In November all finalists will take part in an intensive workshop and attend an awards ceremony, which forms a side event at the global Climate Change Conference in Bonn. There, the ten candidates will meet leading thinkers and decision-makers from the climate and sustainable development fields.

‘In communities around the world, people are coming up with innovative and inspiring ideas to tackle huge environmental challenges, which directly impact people’s health and livelihood’, explained Brett Jenks, CEO of Rare and founder of Solution Search. ‘Many of these ideas can be replicated and their positive impact can spread.’

‘The entries for this competition have shown us that farmers are amongst the greatest innovators in the world with first-hand knowledge of the solutions food and farming needs. We should listen to them more’, added André Leu, President of competition partner organisation IFOAM – Organics International. Rare and IFOAM – Organics International are supported in their work by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s International Climate Initiative (IKI).

Here you can find out more about the ten finalists who are in the running for the prize and vote for your favourite: https://solutionsearch.org/contest/farming-biodiversity#finalists