Crop diversity: Why We Need to Conserve and Use It
The Crop Trust is the only organization in the world that focuses solely on building and supporting a global system of genebanks for the conservation of crop diversity. Among its various activities, the Crop Trust manages the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, which safeguards duplicates of 1,301,397 seed samples from almost every country. Its purpose is to back up genebank collections to secure the foundation of our future food supply.
Crop diversity is a part of our world heritage and one of the most important global public goods we have. It has always been the basis for food production to adapt to changing conditions and to be resilient. But while this adaptability is becoming increasingly important in times of global change, crop diversity is under ever-greater threat. The aim of the seminar is to highlight the necessity of conserving crop diversity, but also to show the great opportunities that are associated with its use.
Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director of Crop Trust presents on crop diversity at the Food for Humanity special seminar (February 3, 2025).