From Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziagher, Ethiopia Environmental Protection Authority
Your article on war-ravaged agriculture contained a very clear message on the importance of conserving crop diversity (22 January, p 34). However, such diversity is not only critical in restoring agriculture following natural or human-induced disasters but is the foundation of all sustainable agriculture.
The genetic diversity contained within thousands of traditional varieties, now being abandoned by farmers but conserved in gene banks around the world, represents one of humanity’s most valuable resources and gives hope that we will be able to feed ourselves in the future in the face of uncertain climates, new pests and diseases and changing market demands.
Yet many of the collections housed in gene banks throughout the world – facilities that are meant to be safe havens – are themselves under threat, not only through wars and other disasters but also through years of underfunding and neglect.
In October last year a new financing mechanism, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, came into being with the specific objective of salvaging the world’s most important collections and ensuring their continued availability. Initiated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the Trust seeks to spend approximately $13 million per year from an endowment of $260 million to ensure the survival of the world’s most important genetic resources in perpetuity.
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Ethiopia may be one of the poorest countries in economic terms, but it is one of the richest in crop diversity. Ethiopia recognises the magnitude of its responsibility to the whole of humanity for conserving its immense agricultural biodiversity, and has pledged its financial support to the trust. Ethiopia calls on other governments, foundations, corporations and individuals to join it in this effort.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
