CROP WILD RELATIVES

Date: 10 June 2013

The natural populations of many species of crop wild relatives are increasingly at risk. They are threatened primarily by the loss, degradation and fragmentation of their habitat, and by climate change. Given the importance of crop wild relatives for agricultural research and development, their conservation is crucial.

In particular their in situ conservation allows the continued evolution of new adaptive traits as well as the maintenance of the breadth of genetic diversity present in the many crop wild relative species.

The Bioversity International Core descriptors for in situ conservation of crop wild relatives are intended to capture key data on in situ conservation status and threats. The descriptors, which provide a universally understood 'language', are designed to facilitate the compilation and exchange of in situ conservation data, which are needed to develop and implement in situ conservation activities.

The Core descriptors for in situ conservation of crop wild relatives are the result of consultations with national and international partners and experts, and were developed in the context of the UNEP/GEF funded project ‘In situ conservation of crop wild relatives through enhanced information management and field application’ implemented by Bioversity International and partners in Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.

Download the Descriptor here  [2]