Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Taking Action for Nature: East Africa’s Call to Transform Agrifood Systems for Biodiversity

 

Smallholder farmers promote agrifood systems for biodiversity (📷JEEP)

As Food and Agriculture Day approaches at UN Biodiversity COP17 in Armenia, East Africa offers a powerful lesson: protecting biodiversity begins with how we grow food, manage land and sustain rural livelihoods.

Across East Africa, a failed harvest is rarely just a farming problem. After prolonged dry spells in some areas, the region faces the prospect of unusually heavy October–December 2026 rains linked to a strengthening El Niño, increasing the risk of flooding, landslides, and crop losses. The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC, 2026) forecasts wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the Greater Horn of Africa, including parts of the Lake Victoria Basin. These contrasting climate pressures expose a deeper vulnerability: when soils are degraded, wetlands are encroached upon, forests are lost, and indigenous crop varieties are neglected, communities become less resilient to both drought and excessive rainfall. East Africa’s food security depends not only on what farmers produce, but also on how effectively they protect and restore the biodiversity and ecosystems that sustain production.

Imagine a smallholder farmer in Uganda preparing for another unpredictable growing season. The survival of the farm depends not only on seeds, rainfall and markets, but also on pollinators, healthy soils, indigenous crops, nearby trees and reliable water sources. These natural assets are the often-overlooked foundations of East Africa’s agrifood systems—and protecting them is essential to building resilient livelihoods in a changing climate.

“We need reliable water for our coffee, maize and other crops, affordable energy to preserve what we harvest, and healthy soils to keep our farms productive. Solar power - which needs to be scaled up- can help us irrigate, dry, and safely store our produce, but as communities, we must also protect the wetlands, trees and water sources that sustain our livelihoods. This is challenging”, Ssendiwala Moses, Chairperson - Bulerejje Agribusiness Cooperative Society Limited in Muduuma Sub-county (Mpigi district) noted in a recent multi-stakeholder review meeting.

The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) recognises the urgency of reversing biodiversity loss. Target 10 calls for the sustainable management of agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry through biodiversity-friendly practices, while Target 11 emphasises restoring and maintaining nature’s contributions to people, including water regulation, soil health and protection against natural hazards (CBD, 2022). The challenge is translating these commitments into measurable results on the ground.

For East Africa, this means moving beyond agricultural models that prioritise short-term production at the expense of ecological health. Farmers can restore indigenous trees, protect pollinators, conserve traditional crop varieties, reduce harmful pesticide use and integrate trees and livestock into diversified farming systems. Around Lake Victoria, protecting wetlands, riverbanks and fish breeding grounds is equally essential to sustaining fisheries, water quality and the communities that depend on them. Such interventions can strengthen biodiversity conservation, food security and rural livelihoods simultaneously (FAO, 2023).

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) COP17 agenda in Mongolia placed renewed attention on land restoration, drought resilience and sustainable land management (UNCCD, 2026). For East Africa, where land degradation and increasingly erratic rainfall threaten farmers and pastoralists, restoration must go beyond counting trees planted. It should prioritise native vegetation, soil organic matter, watershed protection, sustainable rangeland management and meaningful community participation. Healthy soils and functioning ecosystems help landscapes retain moisture, manage heavy rainfall and recover from climatic shocks.

Meanwhile, as countries prepare for UNFCCC COP31 in Türkiye, agriculture and food security must remain central to climate negotiations. East African producers need accessible adaptation finance, reliable climate information, resilient seed systems and investments in water harvesting, drainage and soil conservation. Climate action must also safeguard biodiversity rather than encourage monocultures or poorly planned land conversion. Integrating biodiversity, land restoration and climate adaptation can deliver benefits across all three Rio Conventions.

Productive use of solar energy (PUSE) offers a practical bridge between these global commitments and action on the ground. Solar-powered irrigation, water pumping, crop drying, cold storage and agro-processing can strengthen food production, reduce post-harvest losses, create jobs for women and young people, and reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-powered equipment. For the UNCCD, solar-powered solutions can support drought resilience, efficient water management and the productive restoration of degraded land, provided irrigation is guided by sustainable groundwater abstraction and watershed management (UNCCD, 2019). For the CBD, solar-powered agrifood enterprises can help reduce pressure on forests for fuel, support diversified and agroecological farming, and improve the market opportunities for biodiversity-friendly products, advancing KMGBF Targets 10 and 11. For the UNFCCC, replacing diesel-powered agricultural equipment with solar alternatives can reduce operational emissions, while reliable energy for irrigation, drying and storage strengthens adaptation to climate variability and extreme weather (FAO, n.d.).

However, solar technology alone does not guarantee sustainability. Unregulated solar pumping can accelerate groundwater depletion, poorly sited infrastructure can damage sensitive habitats, and discarded solar panels and batteries can create new waste challenges. Governments and development partners must therefore combine PUSE investments with water-use safeguards, biodiversity-sensitive siting, responsible equipment recycling, affordable financing and technical training. Linking solar technologies to farmer field schools, cooperatives and local entrepreneurship can help communities turn clean energy into lasting economic and ecological gains. The opportunity is to power not just agricultural production, but a nature-positive, climate-resilient and land-restoring rural economy.

How can implementation accelerate on the ground? First, governments should align National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans with agricultural, climate and land-restoration policies, backed by measurable targets and coordinated institutional responsibilities. 

Second, public and private financing models must be inclusive – targeting even the smallholder farmers, women, young entrepreneurs, pastoralists and local conservation groups through accessible grants, affordable credit and incentives for ecosystem stewardship. 

Third, agricultural extension services and farmer organisations should expand agroecology, indigenous seed conservation, integrated pest management, agroforestry and landscape restoration. 

Fourth, communities must help define priorities and monitor progress, drawing on scientific evidence and Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ knowledge. 

Fifth, governments, development partners and financial institutions should scale up inclusive PUSE financing and training, linking solar-powered agricultural enterprises to sustainable water management, biodiversity conservation and circular-economy systems for equipment disposal and recycling. Finally, monitoring frameworks should track not only energy access and agricultural productivity, but also changes in ecosystem health, water use, emissions and rural livelihoods.

As delegates gather in Armenia for Food and Agriculture Day on 28 October, the challenge is clear: global targets will remain aspirations unless they change decisions in fields, forests, wetlands and markets. East Africa’s farmers must be recognised not merely as food producers, but as essential partners in restoring nature. By connecting solar-powered agrifood enterprises with land restoration, biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation, the region can accelerate implementation of the UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC while building resilient livelihoods, secure food supplies and a living planet for future generations.

References


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