Mr Mayor,
Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First, allow me to thank Dr Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International, for inviting IFAD to support and participate in La Settimana della Biodiversita’. This is an exciting and dynamic week-long initiative. And your packed programme of events will, I’m sure, capture the imagination and interest of many people – of all ages and diverse horizons.

Celebrating biodiversity is not just a week-long event. The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, recognizing the importance of biodiversity to rural development and poverty alleviation – the twin themes for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May.

For IFAD, biodiversity is the one of the center pieces of agricultural development. The neglect of biodiversity in agriculture can narrow the base of food security, resulting in food supply crises, hunger and malnutrition. It is therefore crucial to maintain the existing and increase agricultural biodiversity in order to improve food security. That is why we at IFAD fully recognize the importance of biodiversity in achieving our mandate – in empowering smallholder farmers or businesses, especially women, to create wealth and move out of poverty.

With three quarters of the world’s 1.4 billion extremely poor people living in rural areas and depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, it’s clear why agricultural biodiversity needs to be protected now more than ever. IFAD does so through grants to research partners and through programmes and projects focusing on smallholder farmers.

We recognize that (a) agricultural research for development can help protect and enhance biodiversity; (b) the generations of knowledge accumulated by farming communities and indigenous peoples can support sustainable agricultural research for development; and (c) technological change can support the natural resource base, rather than happen at the expense of it.

As far as our programmes and projects are concerned, IFAD has funded several projects implemented by Bioversity International, including supporting the use and appreciation of plant species that are currently neglected and underutilized.

Biodiversity’s contribution to human life is not only practical and physical, but also cultural. Consider the local medicinal plants, which are used to treat specific ailments; or the indigenous crops with built-in resistance to harsh climatic conditions. The disappearance of these unique species and varieties, which have been nurtured by generations and generations of farmers, would be an enormous loss not only to the rural people themselves, but also to society as a whole.

So – biodiversity is fundamental to agriculture; to food security; to livelihoods; to wellbeing. Our planet – and the people of this planet – depend on its rich biodiversity. We have a duty to protect it.

Standing here, alongside my colleagues from FAO, WFP, and Bioversity International, I can assure you that we are all committed to doing so.

Thank you for your kind attention.

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18 May 2010 , Rome, Italy