As Zambia stands at a pivotal moment in shaping its environmental policies to meet international commitments, there is an urgent need to reflect on one of our nation’s greatest, yet most undervalued, assets: our biodiversity. From rich miombo woodlands and freshwater ecosystems to agroecological landscapes, Zambia’s diversity of life is the foundation of our food security, climate resilience, economic well-being and cultural heritage. It is also the future for our youth. And yet this foundation is under increasing threat from climate change and poor development practices, particularly industrial agriculture and toxic mining.
Zambia is currently amending its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to meet global commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD), aimed at safeguarding the collective future of the earth. This national process coincides with the ongoing development of a National Agroecology Strategy and the second National Agriculture Policy; these processes must align to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sustainable Food Systems Transformation Pathways and youth and gender empowerment objectives.
At the centre of all these processes is biodiversity – providing the foundation of youth futures, climate-resilient food systems, and social fairness as mutually reinforcing goals. Biodiversity is far more than just wild plants and animals. It’s a living system that sustains us. It pollinates our crops, enriches our soils, sustains animal life, purifies our water, and provides the genetic diversity essential for agriculture and adapting to climate change. However, current unsustainable practices, particularly industrial food systems, are driving rapid habitat loss, soil degradation, and species decline. The conversion of land for monocultures reliant on toxic chemical inputs not only decreases wild species populations but also undermines the resilience of the very farming communities on which our country depends.
This is where a transformative approach like agroecology proves essential. These parallel processes offer a unique opportunity to adopt a coherent framework, and agroecology offers a cross-cutting solution to achieving complex environmental and development challenges. The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which recognises and directly references agroecology in Target 10, amongst other related targets, offers a clear direction. Agroecology is not just a set of farming techniques; it is a holistic, ecosystem-based model that works to enhance nature rather than destroy it. By promoting crop diversity, integrating trees and livestock, and making use of natural processes for pest and soil management, agroecology increases on-farm biodiversity while producing safe, nutritious food and improving incomes. Importantly, it also supports biodiversity on and off the farm – connecting fields, forests and waterways into healthy, productive landscapes.
There are important issues that must be addressed to ensure that the revised NBSAP more effectively meets both our national targets and global commitments:
- The plan must strengthen emphasis on employing ecosystem-based approaches, working with – rather than excluding – local communities and smallholder farmers. This means moving beyond protective and privatisation approaches to support biodiversity across the wider landscapes where people live and work. Incentivising farmers to maintain natural buffers, restore riparian zones, and create wildlife corridors, which has the potential to turn working lands into thriving habitats, whilst increasing realisation of the value of biodiversity.
- Underpinning the first requirement is the need to deal with the unequal playing field and harmful subsidies which provide financial incentives (often of public funding) for corporate profit and toxic, extractive development practices at the expense of local communities, small-scale producers and a healthy environment. Dismantling harmful subsidies must be a core strategy.
- Planning needs to recognise the growing reality of urbanisation. Cities and towns also rely on biodiversity for clean water, air, food and, importantly, mental wellness. To realise urban biodiversity and human well-being, urban planning must include green spaces, indigenous plants, and sustainable waste management.
- Maintaining strong biosafety cannot be overemphasised and requires much stronger attention from wider biodiversity and food systems actors to safeguard against emerging technologies with unpredictable widespread consequences. A primary objective of the UN-CBD obligates countries to safeguard against the unpredictable and unintended consequences of genetic engineering and the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. Protecting the integrity of our wild biodiversity, ecosystems, agriculture and seeds requires a precautionary and integrated approach.
- Finally, real engagement and gender considerations are critical for success. Biodiversity loss affects everyone, but the effects and knowledge needed to solve it are frequently gender-specific. Women, who play an important role in food production and natural resources management, deserve an equal say in decision-making. Policies should be co-created with farmers, indigenous communities, and local governments while respecting traditional knowledge and promoting inclusive governance.
Although complex, the work at hand is essential and doable. The current revision of the NBSAP presents the best opportunity to institutionally connect policy processes and scale win-win solutions. The formal recognition of agroecology within the NBSAP as a strategic intervention has the potential to achieve landscape-level biodiversity conservation and sustainable management objectives, mitigate against climate change, enhance diverse food production and guarantee initiatives to safeguard wild genetic resources, promote farmers’ rights and restore thriving ecosystems – where people live in harmony with nature.
As the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), a network of citizens, farmers, faith and civil society groups, we believe in a future where Zambia’s prosperity is built on the sustainable use of its natural wealth. We are not calling for a halt to development, but for a smarter, more inclusive pathway. One that recognises that the health of our people is directly linked to the health of our environment.
We have a unique opportunity to implement intersectional policy approaches that provide holistic long-term solutions. These can safeguard biodiversity whilst ensuring long-run economic and social wellbeing.
Now is the time for collective action. Let’s work together to ensure that our revised national strategies strongly champion healthy biodiversity as the foundation of a resilient, food-secure, and thriving Zambia.