The initiative is being led by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, working in partnership with national agricultural research institutes, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), who will all seek to find, gather, catalogue and use the wild relatives of wheat, rice, beans, potato, barley, lentils, chickpea and other essential food crops.

These wild plants contain essential traits that could be bred into crops to make them more durable and versatile in the face of varying climatic conditions.

Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said,

All our crops were originally developed from wild species – that’s how farming began. But they were adapted from the plants best suited to the climates of the past. Climate change means we need to go back to the wild to find those relatives of our crops that can thrive in the climates of the future.

Crop wild relatives make up only a few percent of the world’s genebank holdings, yet their contribution to commercial agriculture alone is estimated at more than US$100 billion per year.

It is widely understood that, irrespective of the outcomes at the United Nations’ climate change conference in Cancún, the coming decades will see ever more challenging conditions for agriculture. The forecasts for declining yields are particularly frightening for the developing world. For example, yields for maize in Southern Africa, a vital crop in a region which already suffers from chronic hunger, are predicted to fall by up to 30 percent within just 20 years. The standard response until now has been that new, hardier varieties of our crops will be required.

Erik Solheim, Minister of the Environment and International Development of Norway, which is providing the initial budget of US$50 million to fund the work, said,

This project represents one of the most concrete steps taken to date to ensure that agriculture, and humanity, adapts to climate change. At a more fundamental level, the project also demonstrates the importance of biodiversity and genetic resources for human survival.

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During the two weeks of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10), representatives from the 193 nations of the UN gathered to address the unprecedented loss of biodiversity that is seriously compounded by global warming.

The 20 goals of the newly adopted Nagoya Protocol include increasing the area of protected land in the world from 12.5% to 17%, and the area of protected oceans from 1% to 10%, by 2020.

Parallel to the UN session, CropLife International has run three Town Hall-style events with farmers, agricultural experts, researchers and policymakers, as part of a global campaign to engage audiences worldwide in a discussion on how agriculture can protect and preserve our natural resources. The Biodiversity World Tour travelled across three continents, starting off in Iowa, USA, then heading to Brussels, Belgium, before finishing off in the same place as the UN biodiversity discussions, in Nagoya.

Here are some highlights from the tour:

Iowa:
Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture, reiterated the importance of science-based regulation and the need to maintain a diverse choice of technologies for farmers.

As we confront the dual challenge of feeding the world while maintaining biodiversity…we must utilize all of the appropriate tools in our toolbox.

Secretary Vilsack maintained that achieving the goals of food security and protecting biodiversity “requires formulation of careful national and international policies and requires the advancement of agricultural research and practices. Above all, these solutions must be built on strong science.”

Brussels:
In a video message, EU Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, warned that decision-makers must act now, and stressed the dependence of food production on a foundation of biodiversity.

Food and agriculture do not exist in a vacuum. Both depend on biodiversity for the fertile soils and the varieties of plant and animal resources it provides.

The panel was optimistic that greatly increasing food needs can be met while protecting biodiversity. The panel drew particular attention to the environmental costs being borne in the developing world due to the deceleration of European productivity, and warned that it is imperative not just to farm for food but also to farm for biodiversity. Prof. Harald von Witzke, Humboldt University Berlin, stressed,

We need to produce more on the acreage already being farmed. “Even rich countries such as those in the European Union need to increase productivity.

At the final event in Nagoya, the panel discussed how the aspirations of the UN and the CBD could be successfully implemented.

The Town Halls have been broadcast live online, with those not present at the talks being able to ask the panel questions via Twitter, Facebook and email. For links to the recorded videos, visit the Biodiversity World Tour’s website.

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Leading up to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan at the end of October, CropLife International are organising a three-stop world tour to discuss the role of sustainable agricultural practices in safeguarding biodiversity.

The Biodiversity World Tour starts tomorrow in Iowa, USA, and then heads east to Brussels, Belgium next week, before ending up in Nagoya in two weeks time.

• Iowa: 12 October: 10am to 11.30am Central Time

In Iowa, three farmers – one from North America, one from South America and the other from Asia – will discuss the challenges they face in preserving biodiversity on their farms. Special guest Tom Visack, US Secretary of Agriculture, will also be speaking.

• Brussels: 20 October: 4pm to 5.30pm Central European Time

At the Brussels event, agricultural researchers will discuss the technologies and strategies that can help farmers ensure the protection of biodiversity, with the additional pressures of a growing population and a changing climate.

• Nagoya: 27 October: 9.30am to 11am Central European Time

The final event in Nagoya will look at the solutions to meeting the biodiversity preservation goals as set by the UN and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Each event will be broadcast live online on the Biodiversity World Tour website. Individuals can also interact with the discussions both prior to and during the event, by submitting questions, either via the website’s Ask A Question forum, or via posting on the CropNews Facebook wall, or sending a question on Twitter by using the hashtag #BWT2010.

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Operation Pollinator is a 5-year EUR 1 million program, launched by Syngenta in July 2009, to provide essential habitat and food sources for pollinating insects across Europe. The project aims to boost the numbers of pollinating insects in order to protect biodiversity and improve crop yields and crop quality.

The programme is based on the success of Operation Bumblebee in the UK where, within three years, the project increased bee populations up to 600%, increased butterfly population 12-fold, increased other insects by more than 10-fold and helped contribute to the regeneration of rare species.

Operation Pollinator is currently being run in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the UK.  The project uses scientific research findings to develop site-specific ways of creating habitats alongside the working farming environment. Additionally, careful site planning and management can significantly reduce soil erosion and help to protect valuable water resources from soil and nutrient degradation.

This initiative shows how farmers have an important role to play in maintaining natural habitats and other ecosystem services to protect biodiversity.

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Farming First calls on governments to enable agricultural innovation and empower farmers to safeguard the world’s biodiversity while increasing global food production.

Sustainable agricultural production needs to be achieved through both accelerated research programmes and broader uptake of existing technologies by farmers.   Public-private partnerships are key to identifying and addressing these innovation gaps as well as disseminating effective agricultural tools and technologies to farmers.

Ajay Vashee, President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) says:

Government leaders need to recognise how interconnected agriculture and biodiversity protection are. Today’s farmers are the true stewards of our global ecosystem.

The twin challenge of conserving ecosystems while ensuring future food security means that the role of the farmer is more crucial than ever. With 2.3 billion more mouths to feed by 2050, food production must increase by 70 per cent, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, despite the threats of climate change and limited availability of natural resources.

Like biodiversity, agriculture benefits from fertile soils, fresh water and natural predators, and farmers can also play a role in maintaining natural habitats and other ecosystem services.

Luc Maene, Director General of the International Fertilizer Industry Assocation says:

Farmers around the world are facing competing pressures to grow more food while preserving the world’s biodiversity.  To succeed, agriculture and biodiversity conservation efforts must walk hand in hand.

The Farming First coalition supports the following principles for protecting biodiversity through agriculture:

• Safeguarding natural resources through sustainable agricultural practices such as sustainable use of land, water and energy resources, conservation agriculture, cultivation of local species and giving value to marginal areas such as wetlands and forests.

• Sharing knowledge of agriculture’s role in preserving biodiversity through stewardship programmes for farmers and government mechanisms for incentivising biodiversity-friendly practices.

• Building local access to agricultural tools and infrastructure which help protect biodiversity, such as multi-cropping systems or crop rotation, without jeopardising agricultural production.

• Protecting harvests by building storage facilities and transport mechanisms, whilst providing support to farmers in managing weather variations and minimising the amount of yield lost to prevent further expansion in land used for agriculture.

• Enabling access to markets via payment incentives for ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, reforestation, measures against desertification and other sustainable land management practices as well as developing and supporting markets for underutilised local species which encourage local biodiversity.

• Prioritising research imperatives by addressing both farmers’ needs and the specificities of local ecosystems as well as factoring in farmers’ local expertise and providing resources such as seed banks.

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He said:

These threats are real, they are immediate, and they will affect us all. Environmental degradation is putting an increasing strain on our natural resources, and it is both a cause and an effect of climate change.

To solve these global challenges, Benn highlighted the need for a more sustainable and productive model for agriculture, as well as more sustianable building practices, transport, and energy production.

The goal of reinvigorating the agricultural sector, he continued, would have to be accomplished through increased  collaboration and commitment from around the world:

We need the world to come together to deal with water scarcity, the damaging loss of biodiversity, and the challenge of producing enough food. The World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and others, need to respond to crises and support the investment that will secure supplies in the long-term.

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The results were very positive: in fields where skylark plots had been made, skylark fledglings increased by 49% .

No-till also helps protect food sources for birds and other wild animals  because the waste grain is not buried and this provides a good food source for many animals. The mulch resulting from the cover crops is also rich in insects and worms, an important food source for wildlife.

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