... or in short Darwin SADC CWR Project 26-023 is a project supported by Darwin initiative and funded by the UK Government for the period April 2019 to March 2022.
The goal of the Darwin SADC-CWR project is to help protect and enhance CWR in the region, and in doing so contribute to future crop improvement and help SADC countries meet their obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). It also contributes to broader global efforts of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the second Global Plan of Action (GPA) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture to maintain genetic diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives, ensure the in situ and ex situ conservation and promote their use so as to diversify our food system sustainably. The main desired outcome is the establishment of a functional regional CWR network of in situ conservation sites and stakeholders across the southern african region.
The project will also aim to build gendered capacity in the region on the conservation and use of CWR, increase the access of CWR germplasm to breeders and farmers, design incentive mechanism to enhance the benefit of farmers from conserving CWR germplasm and develop specific National Strategic Action Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of CWR in partner countries of the project.
The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide.