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What Are The Funds Used For?

Disbursements from the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund have been used to support our long-term agreements with the international research centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which collectively hold the largest and most distributed collections of crop diversity worldwide, as well with the Pacific Community. 

They have also been used to conserve and make available other key crop diversity collections most important for global food security. 

The Crop Diversity Endowment Fund also contributes to the annual operational costs of running the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in conjunction with the Government of Norway and the Nordic Gene Resource Centre (NordGen).

And, finally, it is used to fund the operations of the Crop Trust secretariat.

How much money has been distributed thus far?

Since 2005, over USD 63 million has been withdrawn from the Endowment Fund to support the core mission of the Crop Trust.   

Why do genebanks need guaranteed, long-term funding? 

Genebank collections require constant maintenance, and even brief disruptions or lapses in funding can leave material at risk of permanent loss. Unlike project funds that are disbursed and exhausted, endowment resources are safeguarded and invested by the Crop Trust to earn an annual investment to preserve the real financial value of the endowment over time.

Only this kind of predictable, long-term support can secure a global system of conservation for a shared resource that is too important for anything less than perpetual care. 

Why invest in long-term support for genebanks?

By contributing to the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund of the Crop Trust, donors ensure that future generations will have at their disposal the options necessary to develop food crops that can address mounting challenges. These challenges will surely include the consequences of climate change and associated rising temperatures, stronger and more frequent droughts and floods, rising sea levels, pest and disease outbreaks and extreme weather. Adaptable food crops will help overcome shortages in production caused by lack of water, land and other resources. 

Donors are thereby ensuring that mankind will be able to adapt to climate change and produce the additional food that is required to feed a growing – and more demanding – world population. To learn more, see

What Will It Cost To Secure Global Diversity Forever?

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