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The BOLD Project

Start year: 2021

View the BOLD Project website

Harnessing Crop Diversity To Adapt To The Climate Crisis

Funded with USD 58 million from the Government of Norway and launched in 2021, it builds on the work and achievements of the decade-long Crop Wild Relatives Project (2011-2021).

BOLD will support 15 national genebanks worldwide to conserve their existing collections, develop new crop diversity through partnerships with breeders, and collaborate with farmers to use that diversity in their fields.

Diversity For Long-term Impact

BOLD directly contributes to Target 2.5 of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 to “maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.”

Anne Beathe headshot

Biodiversity is crucial for sustainable food systems. This understanding is part of the reason for Norway’s establishment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. We are pleased to support BOLD as it effectively translates conservation of crop diversity in genebanks into development outcomes related to food security.

Anne Beathe Tvinnereim Minister of International Development, Norway

Related News

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The Risk of One Potato: Shangi and the Challenge of Diversity in Kenya

In the bustling potato markets of Kenya, one name reigns supreme – Shangi. This single variety is so dominant that it currently commands 60 to 70% of the country’s total potato production. For the 800,000 smallholder farmers who...

15 Jun 2026

In the Media

CGIAR: Cryo Vault Opens Its Doors to National Partners

The CGIAR has taken a major step forward in the long-term conservation of crops that cannot be stored as seed, as Ecuador becomes the first country to deposit material in the new Cryopreservation Vault at the International Potato...

10 Jun 2026

How Wild Potato Genes Can Help East African Farmers Beat the ‘Chemical Tax’
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How Wild Potato Genes Can Help East African Farmers Beat the ‘Chemical Tax’

For many smallholder farmers in the tropical highlands of East Africa, the dream of a bountiful potato harvest is increasingly overshadowed by a ‘chemical tax.’ Disease pressure keeps farmers trapped in a costly cycle – spraying...

5 Jun 2026

Key Partners

Crop Trust (facilitator)

  • International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty)
  • Nordic Genetic Resource Center
  • Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)
  • Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Supporters

  • Government of Norway
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