Nature’s new economy: financing agricultural biodiversity for people and planet

Investing in nature means using resources, time, knowledge, skills, space and funding to protect and restore nature and improve how it is managed. This symposium explores how such investment can be implemented in practice, what instruments and opportunities exist and what benefits it generates for people and businesses. It also examines the opportunities, instruments and barriers for financing nature-friendly food systems and what it would take to scale these approaches across Europe.

Organised by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT with EIT Food, Impact House, Leuven MindGate and LadyAgri, this half-day event brings together researchers, practitioners, businesses, policymakers and citizens to explore how agricultural biodiversity including crops, soils and farming systems can be recognised, valued and financed as an investment in nature.

The Director of Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture at the Alliance will present global evidence on the returns on investing in agricultural biodiversity drawing on research across banana systems, seed systems, agroforestry, soil health and nutrition.

The event includes presentations on the evidence base for investing in agricultural biodiversity as a nature-positive strategy; perspectives from EU development cooperation on financing nature-positive approaches in the Global South (DG INTPA); exploration of financial instruments including public, blended and private finance currently available for nature investment and identification of existing gaps; short knowledge-sharing inputs from organisations working on nature-positive food solutions; and an open dialogue on what it would take to finance nature across Europe. A networking lunch with agrodiverse food will conclude the session.

The discussion will cover the EU Deforestation Regulation and sustainable supply chains, financing nature-based solutions for agricultural biodiversity, soil health as a nature investment, seed systems and community resilience.

This event is part of EU Green Week 2026 and contributes to the theme of investing in nature. It is free and open to all and organised by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in partnership with EIT Food, Impact House, Leuven MindGate, LadyAgri, Beyond Chocolate, KU Leuven and Clim-Eat.