The world is
witnessing record losses
of crop diversity in farmers’ fields and in the
wild. Against this backdrop, a new report reveals that
even the genebanks that are intended to be safe havens
for crop diversity are under increasing threat. The
report, Crop Diversity at Risk: The Case for Sustaining
Crop Collections, is authored by the Department
of Agricultural Sciences of Imperial College at Wye
in the United Kingdom. It provides the latest data on
the condition of approximately 1 470 genebanks in some
150 countries. These genebanks are the custodians of
crops that humankind has nurtured for centuries. The
report compares updates information gathered by the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
in 1996 for the First Report on the State of the World’s
Plant Genetic Resources, with data gathered by FAO in
2000.
THIS REPORT IS EMBARGOED
FOR RELEASE AT 11:00 HOURS (GMT/UTC +02.00), THURSDAY
29 AUGUST 2002
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Crop
Diversity at Risk:
The Case for Sustaining
Crop Collections
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Endowing
Future Harvests:
The Long-Term Costs
of Conserving Genetic Resources at the CGIAR Centres.
International Plant Genetic
Resources Institute, Rome, Italy
Koo, Bonwoo, Pardey, Philip G., and Wright, Brian
D. 2002.
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The reports are available in PDF format and can be read
with Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 ®.
Click here
to download the software from adobe.com
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