(4 February 2010) As the Food Security and Climate Change in Dry Areas conference draws to a close, the final declaration promises to feature strong recommendations to collect and conserve biodiversity, and to use it to breed new “climate-ready” crop varieties and build resilient production systems. The Trust’s Luigi Guarino is there and has described the unfolding discussions.
Agro.biodiver.se

(January 29, 2010) The 2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates draws attention to the importance of agriculture and the vital role of diversity. On the importance of technology, he writes about “the ability to gather plant samples from all over the world and use databases to keep track of thousands of plants grown under different conditions. This has accelerated the progress in conventional breeding”. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Trust is working on over 90 projects to collect, regenerate and evaluate thousands of crop varieties, as well as working on the information systems to ensure that this information is easily available to plant breeders worldwide.
Read more about the Trust’s projects here
Read Bill Gates’s 2010 Annual Letter here

(13 January 2010) We are extremely pleased to welcome the Slovak Republic to the growing number of countries which support the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
See full list of donors

(29 December 2009) The USA has pledged a further $10 million to the Trust's endowment for 2010. The Trust welcomes this generous support, which will take the USA's total commitment to $24.5 million. In Copenhagen US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack drew attention to the importance of agriculture in climate change. In particular, with regard to adapting agriculture to climate change, he said that we “must take advantage of the world's vast gene banks to identify traits that can help confer resistance to drought and temperature extremes in crops”. This pledge will strengthen the Trust’s work to ensure that this is possible.

(17 December 2009) Spain has announced that, for the second year, it will be giving €1,000,000 to the Trust. The Trust is extremely grateful for this valuable support.
See full list of donors

(15 December 2009) Congratulations to our Board member, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, who is to become a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a special focus on the environment and climate change. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that she will be inducted as a Messenger of Peace at a ceremony today in Copenhagen.
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(14 December 2009) Follow Trust Director Cary Fowler's Copenhagen diary on Facebook, as he promotes the importance of adapting agriculture to future climates.
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(11 December 2009) As world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss climate change adaptation, a shipment of 50,000 samples is due to arrive at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this weekend, for safe storage in the permafrost. It includes seeds from crops adapted to dry climates, such as sorghum, a high energy crop known for its adaptability and resistance to drought. The genetic diversity represented by these seeds, and others already in the Vault, will be absolutely vital for adapting agriculture to climate change.
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(11 December 2009) The five Ministers of Fisheries, Agriculture, Food and Forestry of Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have issued a statement on agriculture at the climate summit, saying "climate change is the single greatest threat to global food production" and that "Copenhagen must signal the start of an international process in which food security and the climate are viewed together". Among the measures the Ministers cite is the conservation of plant genetic resources.

(11 December 2009) Trust Executive Director Cary Fowler is in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference. Follow him on our Facebook page.
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