INTERNATIONAL EXPERT PANEL
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GENETIC DIVERSITY: THE STATUS AND CHALLENGES OF CONSERVATION, EXCHANGE AND USE

In 2021, the international community celebrates the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. The Secretariat of the International Treaty, in collaboration with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, convened an international panel of high-level experts to highlight the importance of the genetic diversity of fruits and vegetables for food and nutrition security.

The panel was held on Zoom on 16 February. Simultaneous interpretation in French, English, Arabic and Spanish was available.

The international panel:

• Presents how genetic resources of fruit and vegetable are currently conserved, shared and used by international genebanks, national programmes, researchers and breeders, the seed sector and non-governmental organizations;
• Showcases examples of development and production of fruit and vegetable varieties suited to diverse agro-systems and farming practices;
• Discusses current challenges associated with the conservation and use of fruit and vegetable genetic resources, and identifies future needs and actions.

The programme of the event with speakers and links to all presentations delivered, is available here .

The full recording of the event is available here (Passcode: 5AFG456+)

For any question, please contact: PGRFA-Treaty@fao.org

• International Expert Panel: Fruit and Vegetable Genetic Diversity: the Status and Challenges of Conservation, Exchange and Use
• Online Expert Panel - Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Conservation, Use and Exchange of Plant Genetic Diversity
• Cryopreservation: A long-term strategy for hard-to-conserve PGRFA collections in a post-COVID world