The Indigenous Crop Biodiversity Festival, in Maui, Hawaii, August 24-30, 2016 is a recognized parallel event to the IUCN World Conservation Congress. It offers an opportunity to explore the role of indigenous crop biodiversity conservation in food security and in reducing agricultural impacts to natural ecosystems from practitioners perspectives, as well as a look into island biodiversity conservation, in advance of the Congress. To find out more and to register for any of the many events and site visits of the week, some of which are rarely open to the public, please visit.
You still here?
Still here in the ongoing work of taro cultivar recovery. Uncle Jerry Konanui, of the giant taro, will also be in Maui for the ICBF. For any of agrobiodiv’s members who might also be attending the IUCN World Conservation Congress, there will be a special session during the ICBF for Congress participant practitioners in the field of indigenous crop cultivar recovery on August 26th. Since most of Hawaii’s and the Pacific’s primary traditional crops (eg. taro, sweet potato, banana, breadfruit, awa, sugarcane, yam) are clonally propagated , there are interesting challenges to conservation, and unique solutions to perpetuating these wonderful staples. The conversation won’t be limited to Pacific crops. The goal of the session is to share challenges and strategies across the world and to strengthen networks for the future. Did I mention there’s no overall registration fee for the ICBF and that the above mentioned session is free, as is the special lecture series.