Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Global Initiative to Collect, Conserve, and Use Crop Wild Relatives

• Published in: Agroecology and sustainable food systems Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 369 - 377
• Main Authors: Dempewolf, Hannes, Eastwood, Ruth J, Guarino, Luigi, Khoury, Colin K, Müller, Jonas V, Toll, Jane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 2014; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Agriculture; biodiversity conservation; Climate change; climatic factors; crop wild relatives; Crops; Developing countries; Farmers; food crops; food production; food security; Food supply; Genetic diversity; genetic variation; Genetics; Global warming; Initiatives; LDCs; plant breeders; plant breeding; researchers; wild relatives
• ISSN: 2168-3573; 2168-3565; 2168-3573
• DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2013.870629

The main objective of the“Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change” project is to collect and protect the genetic diversity of a portfolio of plants with the characteristics required for adapting the world's most important food crops to climate change. The initiative also aims to make available this diversity in a form that plant breeders can readily use to produce varieties adapted to the new climatic conditions that farmers, particularly in the developing world, are already encountering. Such adaptation is a key component of securing the world's future food production. This paper serves to inform interested researchers of this important initiative and encourage collaboration under its umbrella.