Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Nigel makes a plea:
Given the sheer number of wild species that are related to crops and the need to conserve the full range of genetic diversity for future exploitation, it is just not feasible to focus entirely on ex situ CWR conservation alone, therefore the biodiversity and agro-biodiversity conservation communities will have to work together in the future.
Read his cri de coeur in full.
I seem to have angered my old friend Nigel Maxted. 1 A recent piece of mine suggested that IUCN’s new book Conservation for a New Era may be evidence of a rapprochement between the biodiversity and agrobiodiversity communities. Nigel begs to differ:
I do not want to dull Luigi’s spin on the Conservation for a New Era which I guess is not meant to be specific but I just think again it draws attention to the need for joined-up conservation, that is the integration of biodiversity with agro-biodiversity conservation which I believe is far too often ignored altogether or simply given lip-service only.
After a detailed analysis of what’s been happening — or not happening — in crop wild relatives conservation, and why, Nigel ends thus:
For me in a time of climate change and increasing food insecurity THE issue is how the better integrate biodiversity with agro-biodiversity conservation, not fashionable perhaps but a real priority. The McNeely and Mainka text in my view fails to address this issue!
Do read the whole thing. What do you think? Glass half full or half empty? Or maybe totally empty? And what do we do about it?
Beware of the “X doesn’t need A, it needs B” snowclone. For example: “Africa doesn’t need a green revolution. It needs agroecology.” Because it invariably turns out that what X really needs is both A and B.
I’ve mentioned before that — contrary to my original expectation — the Eden Project does try to get to grips with the domesticated side of plant biodiversity. The latest celebration of agricultural biodiversity down in Cornwall is cider-pressing. But you can also see bananas in the Crops That Feed the World exhibit, and sweet potatoes in the Global Garden, an allotment inspired by cultures around the world.
African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.
Gotta love any photograph with such a caption. See more.