15th Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will hold its Fifteenth Regular Session from 19-23 January 2015 at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarter in Rome, Italy.

The Commission has the mandate to cover all components of biodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture and aims to reach international consensus on policies for the sustainable use and conservation of genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use.  Since its establishment, the Commission has overseen global assessments of the state of the world’s plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture and negotiated major international instruments, including the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Bioversity International will be taking part in several events during the week highlighting the contribution that our research, carried out in collaboration with partners, is making to various areas of relevance to the Commission, such as research on: status and trends of agricultural biodiversity; forest genetic resources; biodiversity and nutrition; climate change and genetic resources for food and agriculture; banana wilt disease.  Bioversity International delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural and tree biodiversity to attain global food and nutrition security.  

We have a long history of collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the Commission, including contributing to the State of the World reports for both Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and Forest Genetic Resources, as well as accompanying Global Action Plans, and related indicators to monitor progress in implementation of these Global Action Plans.

Bioversity International is also organizing four side-events:

The Role of Agricultural Biodiversity in National Climate Change Adaptation Planning: Analysing NAPAs Completed to Date
Monday 19 January 2015, 13:15 – 14:45
Organizer: Bioversity International on behalf of CCAFS
The side event will address the potential role of agricultural biological diversity to contribute to climate resilient agricultural systems, and will present the results of a research project concerning the extent to which increasing biodiversity in agricultural systems is included as part of national adaption planning in the 50 National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) developed to date.

Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Improved Human Nutrition and Wellbeing: Moving from Global Initiatives to Local Action
Tuesday 20 January 2015, 13:15 – 14:45
Organizer: FAO, Bioversity International
The side event will showcase country experiences in mainstreaming biodiversity into policies and programmes at national and international level with the perspective to reduce malnutrition and enhance food security.

Safeguard our Options for Tomorrow: The Case of In situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives
Wednesday, 21 January 2015, 13:15 – 14:45
Organizer: Bioversity International
The objective of the side event is to raise awareness about the importance of crop wild relatives (CWR) in relation to food security, inform them about ongoing projects, in particular the Global Trust project on CWR, the EU/ACP-funded project on in situ conservation of CWR in Southern Africa region.

Towards the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources
Wednesday, 21 January 2015, 13:15 – 14:45
Organizer: FAO, Bioversity International
International research organizations, regional networks and centres of excellence on forest genetic resources related topics are all called upon to contribute to the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources. The side event will be an opportunity to learn from ongoing activities in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

To download related Bioversity International publication, visit here
For a full list of side events, visit here
For the Session Agenda, click here

Photo: Meeting at the UN FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. ©FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto