Post COP10 – Crop Wild Relative community calls for united global efforts

COP10 CBD conference is over and the CWR community requests a coordinated approach to nurture the impact of the event. Recent studies show that 22% of the world’s plant species are threatened with extinction according to IUCN and amongst them we find many wild relatives of crops. The Convention on Biological Diversity is a global initiative dedicated to the issues surrounding loss of biodiversity and a number of targets for biodiversity have been proposed in the CBD Strategic plan to complement the general CBD 2010 Biodiversity Target. Crop wild relatives are specifically mentioned in Target 13, where loss of genetic diversity and strategies to halt the decline are addressed, and could be highlighted as important components in several of the other targets.
CWR specialists’ propose building on the recommendations of the COP10 to push for the establishment of a Global Network of CWR Protected Areas. They recognize a number of tools that can be of interest in the implementation of such a network, like national inventories of CWR, capacity building projects and a database of CWR professionals. The CWR community emphasizes the importance of a coordinated effort to highlight agro-biodiversity and crop wild relatives in order to meet the COP10 CBD targets.