Welcome to our newsletter reviewing the summer of 2025 and looking forward to a busy autumn, including the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

As you will see in our new Theory of Change featured below, we catalyse change in the food and agricultural system through multi-stakeholder convening and networking; spreading knowledge, scientific research and data; influencing policies and defining best practice; and mobilising resources for action. Contributing to international policy forums is one of the pathways to deploying this catalyst effect.

The UN Food Systems Summit +4 Stocktake at the end of July saw us highlighting Nature-based Solutions and soil health, and at the Copenhagen Organic Summit I set out how organic farming can be the cornerstone for a biodiversity-based agricultural future.

We also take you to the Africa Food System Forum, and to the Common Ground Dialogues in Costa Rica and Rwanda. A new PANORAMA case study gives insights from India into how to turn an invasive species into productive agriculture.

For those attending the IUCN World Conservation Congress, we look forward to seeing you there.

Pascale Bonzom,

Global Head, Food and Agricultural Systems

The Theory of Change (ToC) of IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems, highlighting the levers we can pull to achieve system change, is now available on our website.

IUCN drives change by catalysing action among diverse stakeholders. Solutions are co-designed and implemented across four interconnected areas, aligning with our four-year ambition to make significant progress in establishing sustainable and nature-positive multifunctional agricultural landscapes.

This collaborative process transforms food and agricultural systems towards a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future.

IUCN actively participated in the UN Food Systems Summit +4 to stress the importance of integrating Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem-based approaches at scale to restore agricultural lands while enhancing food system resilience and sustainability.

Demonstrating the growing importance of biodiversity considerations in food systems, UNFSS+4 organisers decided to allocate one of the official side event slots to the issue of soil health. Silvia Cardellino, Senior Programme Officer in IUCN Food and Agricultural Systems team, contributed to this official side event to spotlight a truth that is as old as agriculture itself: healthy, living soil is the foundation of sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems.

The Copenhagen Organic Summit held in August, focused on the question of how to achieve 25% organic production and consumption in the EU by 2030. Pascale Bonzom, Global Head of the Food and Agricultural Systems team at IUCN, put forward the biodiversity related arguments for broader adoption of organic agriculture.

In September, IUCN took part in the 19th edition of the African Food Systems Forum in Dakar, Senegal, focused on “Africa’s Youth Leading Collaboration, Innovation, and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation.”

Germain Goungounga, IUCN Programme Coordination Officer, shared his experience in his presentation ‘Rooted in Action: The GEF and Young People Building Sustainable Food Systems’, highlighting the role of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in supporting young people engaged in sustainable food systems in the DRC and Uganda. His work promoted IUCN's initiatives in support of sustainable agriculture and environmental innovation in Africa and beyond, and identified new avenues for collaboration that will strengthen partnerships for truly ‘nature-positive’ agriculture.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress sets the global conservation agenda, representing the collective priorities of member States, government agencies, NGOs and Indigenous people’s organisations.

Links between conservation and food systems are high on the agenda this year, from fostering nature-positive agriculture and food systems, through developing a circular and sustainable bioeconomy, to promoting hedgerows in agriculture in support of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, and improving soil conservation.

The agenda will remain busy towards the end of the year with many international events and precious opportunities to influence negotiations and meet key partners. See below a list of the events that IUCN will engage with. Stay tuned for updates!

• New York Climate Week
• World Congress on Agroforestry
• UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change CoP
• UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention

In this edition, the changemakers’ corner features Ruby Devi, a farmer in Banbarsa, India who turned the invasive species water hyacinth into a valuable asset. By turning it into vermicompost, she not only transformed her home garden but was also inspired to contribute to the creation of a women-led eco-nursery in her village.

Producing abundant vegetables, she shared her surplus with other farmers in the village, building social bonds and inspiring others to try vermicomposting. Her initiative not only promoted natural farming but built a stronger, self-reliant community of women.

The IUCN-supported solution combines ecological restoration with inclusive, community-led action. Vermicomposting transformed biomass from invasive water hyacinth into productive input; fodder cultivation reduced stress on forests while improving livestock systems; and women-led nurseries contributed to improved incomes. 

This solution is published on PANORAMA, a framework that underpins IUCN’s systematic approach to case studies, which enables easier interpretation of the possibilities for replication and scaling up, and presents data and processes in a consistent manner from project to project. 

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