Mainstreaming Biodiversity into the Mexican Agricultural Sector

Mexico is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Yet this biological diversity is being threatened by factors such as agricultural usage. To date, there has been a major lack of subsidies and incentive schemes that promote environmentally sound agriculture. This project therefore attempted to incorporate the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services into decisions and planning instruments of key public and private actors. The project team was working with many different partners to integrate instruments for biodiversity conservation and to promote sustainable land use practices into selected agricultural production systems and value chains. In selected regions, the project trialed novel incentives to encourage sustainable land use. The results obtained were shared with relevant agricultural stakeholders throughout Mexico.

Project data

Countries: Mexico
IKI funding: 5,800,000.00 €
Duration: 12/2016 till 12/2021
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID)
Implementing Partner: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) - Mexico

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) - Mexico

United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment)
Online: https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/66305.html

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State of implementation/results

Projekt completed.
The initiative "Biodiversity and Agriculture" (TEEBAgriFood Mexico) was launched in February 2019 with the participation of 20 institutions from the agricultural, environmental and health sectors, in cooperation with FAO and UNEP.
Training programs (Integration of Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Planning - ISE Ag and Sustainable Value Chains) are institutionalized on internal digital platforms of the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Together with the State of Oaxaca, a "Capacity Building Week on Sustainability and Biodiversity in Agriculture" was held in August 2021.
In a cross-sectoral process, the development of a National Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators (ENCUSP) was advised through project support in 2019 and 2020.
In a cooperation between the biodiversity agency CONABIO, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and with advice from the project, a label "Biosello" was developed in 2020.
As part of the cooperation with private sector, the project "Madre Tierra" was developed with Danone to integrate biodiversity in business decisions.
Policy advice at the federal state level through the IKI-IBA project, regular exchanges between the states and between the state and federal levels on sustainable agriculture was promoted:
A fund for financing regenerative agricultural practices was designed in cooperation with NewVentures, WWF and ReNature.
In cooperation with the NGO Technoserve and the Walmart Foundation, a funding mechanism for the Walmart Small Producer Program was developed.
The website agriculturasustentable.mx is provided as a HUB for project results on sustainable development of the agricultural sector in Mexico.

Latest Update:
04/2024