Global treaty critical for saving disappearing plants amid climate change
12/11/2019
As a public good that benefits the global community, crop diversity must remain a legacy for generations to come, FAO's Deputy Director-General for Climate and Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo, said today.
Semedo made the remarks at the eighth session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GB-8) at FAO's headquarters in Rome. She noted that the Treaty has created the largest global genepool, which has been accessed 5.4 million times by farmers, scientists and plant breeders
"Without a wide range of plants and their genetic resources, we cannot have quality nutrition for healthy and productive lives, adapt our crops to climate change or achieve global sustainable development goals. Over the course of history, humans utilized over 3000 plant species. Today, we mostly depend on only 150 types, with just three crops - rice, wheat and maize - providing over half our calories.