Introduction This brief has been prepared by Bioversity International for delegates to the 2016 Global Consultation on Farmers’ Rights 1 . The brief aims to raise awareness among delegates and Contracting Parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of the crucial contribution that a community-based approach to the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity can make to realizing farmers’ rights and empowering men and women smallholder farmers. At the Sixth Session of the Governing Body, under Resolution 5/2015, the Secretariat was requested “to engage Contracting Parties and relevant organizations to take initiatives to gather information at national, regional and global levels for exchanging views, experiences and best practices on the implementation of Farmers’ Rights” 2 . This brief aims to contribute to that body of information. The importance of community-based agricultural biodiversity management Agricultural biodiversity −including farmers’ crop varieties and related knowledge− can be a crucially important asset for farmers to deal with climate changes, pests and diseases, market irregularities and failures. However, much of this biodiversity continues to be lost (FAO 2010). This loss is due in part to the expansion of agricultural systems that promote replacement of a broader range of traditional or farmers’ crop varieties with a small number of modern or improved crop varieties (Petit et al. 2001). The positive impacts of such programmes on food security have been well documented. However, it is also true that in many places, introduced modern varieties have not responded well to farmers’ interests and needs, because they lack farmer-preferred traits, and/or are not adapted to local conditions, and/or require costly and often unavailable inputs. Around the world, the loss of agrobiodiversity is contributing to major changes in agricultural livelihoods, agroecosystems and biocultural landscapes A community- based approach to the management of agricultural biodiversity can empower and beneft smallholder men and women farmers and farming communities economically, environmentally and socially. This approach makes implementing farmers’ rights at national level both practical and effective contributing to food and seed security, sustainable livelihoods and resilience. Examples of Bioversity International’s research portfolio provide evidence. Realizing farmers’ rights through community-based agricultural biodiversity management Evelyn Clancy and Ronnie Vernooy, with contributions from Adam Drucker, Jacob van Etten, Arnab Gupta, Michael Halewood, Danny Hunter, Devra Jarvis, Rose Nankya, Isabel López Noriega, Stefano Padulosi, Marleni Ramírez, Neeraj Sharma and Bhuwon Sthapit 1. The Global Consultation on Farmers’ Rights, Bali, Indonesia, from 27-30 September 2016, is convened by the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 2. Notifcation on the Global Consultation on Farmers Rights is available at: http://www.planttreaty.org/sites/default/fles/005_GB7_FR_ consulta_anno_en.pdf (last accessed 5 September 2016).