The biological and agricultural diversity of our environment is crucial to sustaining human livelihoods: that is why we maintain and conserve it.

Poor people in developing countries are particularly dependent on continued diversity. The great wealth of plant and animal species is the basis of their livelihood, their food supply and – through medicinal plants – their health.

Species diversity and poverty reduction

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the United Nations (UN) calls for biodiversity to be protected and used sustainably and for the benefits arising from such use to be shared equitably. The convention is the first multilateral agreement to combine environmental and development goals. It thus seeks to ensure that developing countries benefit from the use of their biodiversity, for example when new pharmaceutical products are developed from tropical plants.

Germany has enshrined the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in its Programme of Action 2015, the national programme for reducing poverty and implementing the Millennium Development Goals – because intact biodiversity is essential for the reduction of poverty.

Since 1993 GIZ (former GTZ) has been working successfully at the interface of nature conservation, agriculture, environmental policy and development cooperation. Experience gained from innovative pilot projects now feeds strategically into German development policy and technical cooperation projects.