‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ (TEEB) Office, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is seeking motivated individuals who are looking for a challenging, yet rewarding role in the content development of a technical report on the ‘Scientific and Economic Foundations’ for a project on ‘TEEB for Agriculture & Food’.

A ‘TEEB for Agriculture & Food’ (TEEBAgriFood) study will seek to bring together scientists, economists, policymakers, business organizations, civil society and farmer/consumer groups in order to undertake a comprehensive economic evaluation of agricultural systems, practices, products, along value chains and across policy scenarios, to form assessments and provide recommendations that recognize and reflect a comprehensive range of impacts and dependencies.

TEEBAgriFood will seek to review the economic interdependencies between human (including health, nutrition, economic and social) systems, agriculture and food systems, and biodiversity and ecosystems. In doing so, it will address the economic invisibility of many of these links while exploring how biodiversity and key ecosystem services deliver benefits to the agriculture sector and also beyond, itself being a key contributor to human health, livelihoods and well-being.

The objectives of this project are not limited to the assessment of a wide range of hidden costs and benefits of various agricultural production and food systems (making values visible), but to also build an evidence base that provides context-specific examples and recommendations for “sustainable” food systems, i.e. systems that can feed the world with nourishing, healthy diets and without creating high burdens of disease while also ensuring equitable access to resources and livelihoods to farm workers and maintaining and improving ecosystem services for the benefit of all including generations to come.

For more information, visit the TEEB website.