3rd meeting of the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA stumbles, moves on

I do hope you’re all keeping up to date with what’s happening in Tunis…

Melaku Worede on the Seed Treaty “Ex-situ gene banks have an important role to play. But...
What’s a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this? I heard an interesting programme on the BBC World Service...
Berry genebank the pride of Oregon There’s a lengthy article in Portland Monthly on the National...

Swapping maize for indigenous crops won’t fix African food systems designed around markets and policies that still favour a narrow range of crops.
Cassava is both a food security fallback and a commercial crop in Uganda, but disease, climate change and declining diversity make its conservation an increasingly urgent form of insurance. But what about the markets and policies?
When livestock and crops fail, Ugandan pastoralists draw on wild plants for food, underlining how much food-system resilience still sits outside the formal agricultural system, with its markets and policies.
The Morton Arboretum is using living collections and genetic research to help the threatened butternut tree cope with changing conditions.
Webinar discusses global approaches to seed provenancing and transfer zones, useful for anyone who wants to move native plants without moving the wrong genes. Butternut very interested.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo preserves genetic material of plant and animal species that may disappear, from DNA to cells to organisms. Butternut volunteers.
New Indian facility combines ex situ fish conservation with community aquaculture. Good model for much of the above?