2023 TEEB AgriFood Global Symposium

TEEBAgriFood Global Symposium 2023

The TEEBAgriFood Global Symposium, held in Bangkok from 7 - 9 November 2023, marked a significant milestone in TEEB’s journey towards making nature’s values visible. The symposium brought together an impressive assembly of 170 stakeholders and practitioners from diverse sectors, including farmers, researchers, policy makers including government representatives, and individuals from the private sector. This diverse participation fostered a rich environment for knowledge exchange, the sharing of best practices, lessons learnt, discussions and collaboration.

The sessions, ranging from high-level opening remarks to country-specific discussions and project impact workshops, were instrumental in deepening understanding and commitment to sustainable agricultural practices. Learning from successful country initiatives from the 7 research countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand. As well as exploring the latest research findings and insights among fellow practitioners and reflecting on challenges faced. The breakout sessions on topics such as ‘Transforming Decision Making by mainstreaming the TEEB approach, Social and Human Capital Measurement or Agroecology and Integrated Agricultural Systems’, underscored the importance of integrating a holistic approach as suggested by the TEEBAgriFood work.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, reflecting the attendees' engagement and the symposium's effectiveness in addressing crucial topics to help bolster food systems transformation for a more sustainable future for people and planet. There was a great deal of engagement between the research community and the policymakers present. A key takeaway was highlighting the need for research to focus on science-policy translation. The researchers present should be motivated by the desire of the policymakers in the room to receive and then use policy research in evidence-based decision-making.

As the project comes to a close, the symposium has laid a solid foundation for future collaborations and initiatives and offered a platform to discuss next steps. The insights gained will undoubtedly propel the efforts in ecosystem service valuation and transforming food systems forward, aligning with UNEP's vision and the global sustainable development goals.