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Biodiversity loss threatens future of food
The precious biodiversity that sustains our food systems is in decline, according to first-ever global report on the state of biodiversity for food and agriculture, launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 22 February 2019.
Prepared under the guidance of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, The State of the…
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Farmer science accelerates climate adaptation
A new study in PNAS addresses the challenge of climate adaptation in a way that is both scalable and targeted. Scientists demonstrate a unique approach using crowdsourced citizen science that capitalizes on farmers’ knowledge.
New and rapidly evolving climate conditions brought about by climate change require farmers to replace their crop varieties more often than…
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A global community seedbank platform
Genetic Resources Policy Specialist, Ronnie Vernooy, discusses how Bioversity International and partners tackle the need for greater connectivity among community seedbanks.
Community seedbanks have been around for about 30 years. They have been designed and implemented to conserve, restore, revitalize, strengthen and improve local seed systems, and have been especially,…
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Sharing best practices for banana germplasm conservation and exchange
Latin American and Caribbean banana collection curators came together for the MusaNet Regional Workshop on Musa Characterization and Documentation
Banana (Musa) diversity is conserved in more than 60 ex situ collections worldwide located mostly in banana producing countries. To ensure the long-term conservation on a cooperative basis,…
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Bioversity International and CIAT sign Memorandum of Understanding that establishes the Alliance foundations
Communiqué n. 5 – Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) continue to make progress toward the establishment of an Alliance focused on tackling key challenges facing our world today: malnutrition in all its forms; climate change adaptation and mitigation; declining…
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Toolkit Launch: Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition
The Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Initiative shares a new open-access guide that collects lessons learned from four partner countries to help others harness agricultural biodiversity to transform the food system for development, food security and nutrition.
Throughout its six years of experience in Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and…
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Which are the right crops to enable food security under future climates?
A new paper sets out to determine if crop-specific research investments can be prioritized to anticipate climate change impact on crops and enable the production of more nutritious food.
As world leaders at the UN's 24th Conference on Climate Change in Poland grapple with how to implement agreements made in Paris 2015 to reduce…
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A Course in Nepal on Plant Genetic Resources and Resilient Seed Systems for Sustainable Food Security
Francesca Grazioli, Research Support Officer for the Cacao Genetic Resources Team, Bioversity International, reports on a training on securing sustainable food security that grounded theory with practice and provided her with tools she can implement in her work on cacao.
Deadlines,…
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Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes
The recently released 'Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Production Landscapes' features Bioversity International's contributions to supporting agricultural biodiversity as it seeks to integrate biodiversity considerations into policies, strategies and practices.
Bioversity International has been collaborating with the Global…
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A food security monitoring and early warning system for Guatemala
Supported by Bioversity International and CCAFS, the Guatemala Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security implemented a digital platform to improve the management of and response to climate-related seasonal hunger at local scale.
Although seasonal hunger is a recurring and well-known problem that affects subsistence farm families in Guatemala…
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How will we finance the New Deal for Nature?
The CBD estimates up to US$440 billion is needed annually to meet commitments in the post-2020 UN Biodiversity Framework yet the current annual spend budget is only US$52 billion. How do we fill this huge financial shortfall?
Gianpiero Menza, Private Sector Engagement Coordinator, Bioversity International reports on how financial innovations could help pay the…
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Bioversity International and CIAT continue to make exciting progress in establishing an Alliance
Communiqué n.4 – Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) advance in defining the vision, mission and strategic objectives of the Alliance, and in selecting the new Director General of Bioversity/CEO-Designate of the Alliance.
Bioversity International and the…
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How is agrobiodiversity faring in Peru?
Did you know that Peru is one of the main centres of crop diversity in the world? A recent study conducted by Bioversity International sets the stage for further actions to protect, conserve and boost agrobiodiversity use in the country to nourish people and sustain the planet.
With 184 native domesticated plant species and hundreds of varieties, Peru is one of the…
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Strengthening farmers' seed systems in China
Dr. Yiching Song, Senior Researcher at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. Ronnie Vernooy, Senior Scientist at Bioversity International, visited Aohan, Inner Mongolia, with their team to investigate the use of traditional farmer crop varieties.
Bioversity International and the Center for Chinese Agricultural…
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Bioversity International featured at Africa’s biggest gathering of nutritionists
Bioversity International showcased its research addressing the lack of important micronutrients in African diets at Africa’s biggest gathering of nutritionists in Addis Ababa.
The African Nutrition and Epidemiology Conference (ANEC), held every two years, is Africa’s biggest gathering of nutritionists. This year, the…
