Climate adaptation
Alarmed by a substantial oversight in the global climate talks leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month, more than 60 of the world’s most prominent agricultural scientists and leaders underscored how the almost total absence of agriculture in the agreement could lead to widespread famine and food shortages in the years ahead.
To read full statement and list of signatories, click here.
For press inquiries, please contact:
Jeff Haskins at jhaskins@burnesscommunications.com
+254 729 871 422
Megan Dold at mdold@burnesscommunications.com
+1 301 280 5720
Press release
18 November 2009: World's Leading Food Security Experts Warn that Failure to Focus on Agriculture Will Undermine Success of Next Global Climate Agreement and Worsen Global Hunger.
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Climate Adaptation Background Materials
Shifts in African crop climates by 2050, and the implications for crop improvement and genetic resources conservation
Increased understanding of the substantial threat climate change poses to agriculture has not been met with a similarly improved understanding of how best to respond. This paper by Marshall Burke, David Lobell and Luigi Guarino examines likely shifts in crop climates in Sub-Saharan Africa under climate change to 2050, and explore the implications for agricultural adaptation, with particular focus on identifying priorities in crop breeding and the conservation of crop genetic resources. Download the PDF here.
The Conservation of Crop Diversity in the Face of Climate Change
The ability of ecosystems to provide the most basic types of services to humans, such as food and water, will be affected by climate change throughout the world. A common assumption is that agricultural systems will shift in response to climate change, resulting in little net impact on global food supplies in the future. However, this assumption overlooks a critical set of conditions. In September 2007, a group of experts from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Stanford University and the wider genetic conservation, climate science, agricultural development, and plant genetics and breeding communities met at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, to initiate a discussion about the management of global crop genetic resources in the face of climate change. Their underlying focus was on global food security.
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Svalbard Statement
To celebrate the first year of operations of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in February 2009 Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Lars Peder Brekk, convened scientists and policymakers from around the world to discuss the challenges of climate change with a focus on food security and biological diversity. This is the message scientists and leaders from public and private sector, at that meeting, are conveying to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009.
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What the Trust is doing
The Trust is working in more than 80 countries, to ensure that crop diversity is properly conserved, better understood, and more easily available to plant breeders to adapt crops for a changing climate. To explore our work, click the map below.
To read full statement and list of signatories, click here.
For press inquiries, please contact:
Jeff Haskins at jhaskins@burnesscommunications.com
+254 729 871 422
Megan Dold at mdold@burnesscommunications.com
+1 301 280 5720
Press release
18 November 2009: World's Leading Food Security Experts Warn that Failure to Focus on Agriculture Will Undermine Success of Next Global Climate Agreement and Worsen Global Hunger.
[English] [Français] [ Italiano] [Español]
Climate Adaptation Background Materials
Shifts in African crop climates by 2050, and the implications for crop improvement and genetic resources conservation
Increased understanding of the substantial threat climate change poses to agriculture has not been met with a similarly improved understanding of how best to respond. This paper by Marshall Burke, David Lobell and Luigi Guarino examines likely shifts in crop climates in Sub-Saharan Africa under climate change to 2050, and explore the implications for agricultural adaptation, with particular focus on identifying priorities in crop breeding and the conservation of crop genetic resources. Download the PDF here.
The Conservation of Crop Diversity in the Face of Climate Change
The ability of ecosystems to provide the most basic types of services to humans, such as food and water, will be affected by climate change throughout the world. A common assumption is that agricultural systems will shift in response to climate change, resulting in little net impact on global food supplies in the future. However, this assumption overlooks a critical set of conditions. In September 2007, a group of experts from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Stanford University and the wider genetic conservation, climate science, agricultural development, and plant genetics and breeding communities met at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, to initiate a discussion about the management of global crop genetic resources in the face of climate change. Their underlying focus was on global food security.
Download PDF
Svalbard Statement
To celebrate the first year of operations of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in February 2009 Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Lars Peder Brekk, convened scientists and policymakers from around the world to discuss the challenges of climate change with a focus on food security and biological diversity. This is the message scientists and leaders from public and private sector, at that meeting, are conveying to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009.
Download PDF
What the Trust is doing
The Trust is working in more than 80 countries, to ensure that crop diversity is properly conserved, better understood, and more easily available to plant breeders to adapt crops for a changing climate. To explore our work, click the map below.