Throughout history 6 000 – 7 000 plant species have been cultivated for food. Yet today 40 percent of our daily calories come from just three crops: rice, wheat and maize. Humans depend on little more than 30 plant species, many of which are struggling in the face of today’s environmental changes.
With biodiversity and entire ecosystems in serious decline, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture plays an increasingly important role in promoting farmers and their essential contribution to diversifying the crops that feed the world. The Treaty was negotiated by FAO and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) and adopted in 2001 to create a global system that provides farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access to plant genetic materials.
The genetic material in each variety of species is unique and precious. Derived from human and natural selection for many decades, these genetics are fundamental to our future of food. Genetic material ensures agricultural biodiversity and gives different species the ability to cope with changes, whether it be climate change, new pests and diseases, drought and even flooding.
The Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund invests in projects that conserve and develop crop genetic resources to improve food security in cooperation with farmers.
Here are three examples of how this Treaty has helped farming communities in developing countries cope with climate change and other environmental threats.
1. Exchanging and developing biodiverse potato varieties in Peru, Nepal and Bhutan
There are over 4 000 native varieties of potato growing in the Andean highlands. These varieties are well-adapted to harsh conditions and a changing climate. In contrast, Nepal and Bhutan have only two locally adapted potato varieties but face similar conditions and environmental threats as the Andes. With this in mind, the project sought to reduce the vulnerability of these mountain communities by introducing potatoes that are more resilient to extreme temperatures and offer better nutritional quality.
Working closely with the International Potato Centre in Peru, farmers in Nepal and Bhutan became directly involved in selecting new, high-yielding, resilient and biodiverse varieties of potato. The genetic material from these potatoes has since been conserved, multiplied and used by national agricultural research systems in all three countries.