Site on crop wild relatives

A Global Portal that offers a wealth of information on wild relatives of crops will be launched on May 20 in Bonn, Germany at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The portal is part of a five-year project with five countries - Madagascar, Armenia, Bolivia, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan - implemented by Bioversity International with funding provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

By making such information widely accessible, the Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) Global Portal will contribute to more effective conservation and sustainable use of wild relatives through better-informed decision making by policymakers, researchers and conservationists.

Crop wild relatives are a vital weapon in the fight for global food security. Wild relatives of plants such as potato and wheat contain genes that confer resistance to devastating pests and diseases or permit them to survive extreme drought and temperatures.

These traits can be bred into crops to confer those essential characteristics as well and others such as enhanced nutritional quality. Crop wild relatives will be an increasingly important line of defense in helping adapt crops to changing climatic conditions.

The range of information available through the CWR Global Portal covers ex situ conservation, taxonomy, conservation status and distribution, relevant contacts, literature sources, latest news and photos.

Information sources include the project's country partners, international partners (BGCI, FAO, IUCN, and UNEP-WCMC), and data from other countries, accessible via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).