The International Day for Biological Diversity, celebrated annually on May 22, brings global attention to the importance of protecting our planet's diverse life forms. For 2025, the theme "Harmony with nature and sustainable development" highlights the urgent connection between biodiversity conservation and sustainable human progress.
With only five years remaining to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this year's day is a vital call to action. Agricultural innovation stands at the forefront of this challenge, offering powerful solutions that demonstrate how working with nature, rather than against it, can transform our food systems while restoring biodiversity.
A path to biodiversity restoration
Conventional agricultural practices have long been associated with biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and excessive water consumption. As monoculture farming expanded across the globe, the resulting ecological simplification has led to increased vulnerability to pests, diseases, and climate extremes. However, farmers worldwide are pioneering approaches that reverse these trends, demonstrating how agriculture can become a powerful force for biodiversity regeneration.
One such approach is syntropic farming, a sophisticated form of regenerative agriculture that simulates rainforest ecosystems. At its core, syntropic farming views plants not as isolated entities competing for resources but as complementary elements in a harmonious, multidimensional system.
What is syntropic agriculture?
Syntropic farming recreates the ecological dynamics of natural forests within agricultural settings. Farmers create productive ecosystems that mature continuously rather than seasonally by planting diverse species with different heights, light requirements, and lifecycles in dense arrangements.
The fundamental principles include:
- Dense polyculture planting: Multiple crops with varying morphologies and lifecycles grow together in strategic arrangements.
- Stratification: Plants are organized in layers according to their sunlight needs, maximizing photosynthesis throughout the system.
- Continuous soil coverage: Bare soil is eliminated, protecting against erosion and water loss.
- Strategic pruning and harvesting: Plants are managed to maintain system balance and productivity.
- Natural succession: The system evolves over time, with early crops supporting the establishment of longer-term species.
When properly implemented, syntropic systems can continuously produce fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, and timber for decades, creating economic sustainability alongside ecological regeneration.
What are the benefits of restoring and boosting biodiversity in farming systems?
Success story 1: "Planting water" in Curaçao decreases reliance on inputs
Roland van Reenen's experience transforming agriculture in Curaçao demonstrates how syntropic farming can dramatically reverse environmental degradation while solving practical challenges like water scarcity.
The challenge of desert agriculture
The Caribbean island of Curaçao faced severe agricultural limitations due to its semi-arid climate. With approximately seven months without significant rainfall annually, conventional farming required intensive irrigation, approximately 4 liters of water per square meter daily. The island's groundwater levels were continuously declining, with many farms unable to use wells due to seawater infiltration.
When Brazilian experts Thiago Gimenez Barbosa and Murilo de Lima visited the island in 2019, they were shocked by the degradation but recognized the potential for transformation, against local skepticism.
Thiago Gimenez Barbosa, a syntropic agroforestry expert, said: "Most people think that to be able to grow plants, you need water, but to the contrary, we say that to have water, you need plants".
The syntropic solution
The implementation focused on creating strategic plant combinations and layers:
- Biomass production: Mombasa grass (Megathyrus maximus) was planted on every bed, with every third bed reserved for fast-growing trees that produced abundant organic material
- Stratification: Plants were arranged in layers according to their sunlight requirements:
- Emergent species (requiring full sunlight)
- High-strata species (needing 60-80% sunlight)
- Medium-strata species (thriving with about 40% sunlight)
- Low-strata species (preferring shade with only 20% sunlight)
- Soil cooling: The dense vegetation, particularly the Mombasa grass, created a cooling effect that reversed the normal flow of water vapor. Rather than losing moisture to the atmosphere, the cooler soil beneath the plants attracted condensation, effectively "planting water".
Transformative results
Within just six months, the syntropic system reduced irrigation needs from 4 liters per square meter daily to the same amount once every three weeks, a reduction of over 90%. Even more remarkably, the groundwater level began rising, allowing continuous water pumping where previously the well would run dry after 20-30 minutes.
The farm transformed into a lush green agroforest that demonstrated extraordinary drought resilience, surviving up to 40 days without irrigation, which is a revolutionary achievement in a semi-arid climate. This case illustrates how syntropic farming can create harmony between agriculture and natural water cycles, restoring a crucial aspect of ecosystem function.
Success story 2: Economic sustainability through Mediterranean agroforestry
Economic viability has always been a key obstacle to biodiversity-friendly farming practices, particularly during transition periods. Niek Pepels addresses this challenge directly through a strategic syntropic agroforestry design for Mediterranean climates.
The financial challenge of transition
Many farmers hesitate to adopt agroforestry systems because fruit trees often take 5-15 years to produce significant yields. This creates a financial gap that can make conversion economically unfeasible. Pepels' system demonstrates how thoughtful design can generate income during this transition period while building biodiversity.
The syntropic Mediterranean orchard design
Pepels' system strategically combines:
- Fruit trees as long-term crops: Apple trees spaced 4-6 meters apart form the backbone of the system, representing the ultimate productive layer that will thrive for decades
- Fast-growing pioneer trees: Paulownia trees planted between fruit trees grow up to 5 meters annually, providing crucial shade protection in the Mediterranean climate while generating biomass for mulching
- Quick-yielding berry crops: Strawberries, raspberries, and currants planted between tree rows produce income within 1-2 years, "financing" the development of the slower-growing trees
The system creates multiple vertical layers, with paulownia trees forming umbrella-like canopies that protect heat-sensitive berries and young fruit trees. The natural architecture allows morning light to reach the understory while providing afternoon shade during intense Mediterranean heat.
Sustainable economic results
This layered approach delivers multiple harvests throughout the season, creating consistent revenue streams while the ecosystem develops. The berries provide immediate returns, while the paulownia trees contribute valuable biomass for soil fertility. After just three years, the apple trees reached 5 meters in height and began flowering, moving toward productive fruiting much faster than in conventional orchards.
This success story directly addresses the economic aspect of sustainable development, demonstrating how biodiversity-based agriculture can be financially viable even during transition periods, which is a critical consideration for the wider adoption of regenerative practices.
Success story 3: Strip-cropping for agricultural resilience and pest management
While the first two success stories focus on agroforestry systems, strip-cropping offers a scalable approach to biodiversity integration that works even for large-scale mechanized farming operations. ERF, the largest private organic farm in the Netherlands, manages over 1,000 hectares and, together with Hemus, has implemented strip-cropping across more than 100 hectares of organically cultivated land, growing 6–8 different crops in carefully designed strips.
The problem with monoculture
Modern agriculture has increasingly relied on vast monoculture fields with single crops extending as far as the eye can see. This approach facilitates mechanization but creates significant vulnerabilities. For example, potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans) causes annual losses exceeding €1 billion in Europe and €3-10 billion globally. Despite developing resistant varieties and chemical controls, the pathogen continually adapts, forcing farmers in places like the Netherlands to destroy entire fields at just 5% infestation levels.
The strip-cropping solution
Strip-cropping breaks monocultures into alternating bands of different crops, each managed separately but benefiting from proximity. Common pairings include wheat-cabbage, corn-sunflower, potato-grass/clover, and carrot-onion.
The width of strips can be adjusted to match machinery requirements, typically 3, 6, or 12 meters, with 6 meters providing an optimal balance between mechanical efficiency and ecological benefit.
Multiple biodiversity benefits
Strip-cropping enhances farm biodiversity and resilience through several mechanisms:
- Disruption of pest lifecycles: By alternating crops, pests cannot easily spread throughout the field
- Disease management: The system slows the spread of infections like potato blight, giving farmers additional days before intervention is required
- Enhanced beneficial insects: Greater crop diversity supports predator insects that control pests naturally
- Improved soil health: Different crops contribute various nutrients to the soil
- Erosion control: Alternating strips slow water runoff and prevent soil loss
Real-World Success
The experience of ERF and Hemus provides key lessons for other large-scale farms:
- No special new equipment is needed to get started
- Crops with different pest/pathogen profiles should be paired
- Strip width should match existing machinery dimensions
- Adding flower strips further enhances beneficial insect populations
- Crops with different planting and harvest times work well together
This approach demonstrates how even large-scale commercial agriculture can incorporate biodiversity principles without sacrificing mechanization or productivity, a crucial consideration for broadening the adoption of biodiversity-friendly practices.
Final thoughts
As we approach International Day for Biological Diversity 2025, these success stories remind us that the future of agriculture depends on conserving biodiversity. Through approaches like syntropic farming, Mediterranean agroforestry, and strip-cropping, farmers worldwide are demonstrating how food production can work in harmony with nature while supporting sustainable development.
