Deliverable D1.5 - Biodiversity Use Criteria

This report, Deliverable D1.5 – Biodiversity Use Criteria, outlines the co-development and validation of biodiversity use criteria and tools to assess and communicate the value of agrobiodiversity within and beyond the DIVINFOOD project, which aims to promote the use of neglected and underutilised crops (NUCs) in sustainable, healthy plant-based food systems. The deliverable focuses on the outcomes of Task 1.3, where SMART indicators and Biodiversity Use Criteria were tested with consumers across Living Labs (LLs) in Denmark, France, Hungary, and Italy. These criteria reflect benefits in agroecological breeding, cultivation, food processing, and marketing. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to compare nine communication tools (e.g. logos, QR codes, videos, price tags), each communicating the same biodiversity use criteria, revealing that while all examined groups favoured simplified “traffic-light” labelling formats like the Planet Score, they also expressed the need for supporting explanations and locally relevant information. We used the communication tool as a way to introduce the discussion of the validation of SMART indicators, so to enable the participants to more easily distinguish between the different uses of biodiversity. This enabled them to then rank the criteria for biodiversity use according to the most pertinent in the consumption sphere. The biodiversity use criteria most easily understood by participants were related to landscape and soil benefits from agroecological production but the health-related aspects of NUCs were viewed as being overall the most important. The nine communication tools did not effectively communicate this health value of biodiversity use. Preferences for trustworthy messengers varied by country—scientists in Denmark, farmers in Italy—, underscoring the need for locally tailored communication strategies and a composite index of biodiversity use. The findings support the finalisation of Biodiversity Use Criteria and SMART indexes and suggest integrating composite labels, digital tools, and culturally adapted messaging to foster consumer understanding and trust in biodiversity-friendly food products and short and mid-tier food supply chains.