Bioversity International Celebrating 45 Years of Agrobiodiversity Research 45th anniversary Bioversity International Celebrating 45 Years of Agrobiodiversity Research Contents Juan Lucas Restrepo Welcome .....................................................................................................................................................................7 Julia Marton-Lefèvre Welcome ....................................................................................................................................................................9 Our journey so far ........................................................................................................................................................................................10 Today’s strategic priorities ..........................................................................................................................................................................15 Our research on bananas ............................................................................................................................................................................18 Our research on trees ..................................................................................................................................................................................20 Our work on neglected and underutilized species.................................................................................................................................22 Bioversity International and CGIAR .........................................................................................................................................................24 Bioversity International and Italy ..............................................................................................................................................................26 Meet Our Staff: Evelyn Clancy, Josephine Luzon and Dario Valori .....................................................................................................28 SAFEGUARD 31 Collecting in the 1980s: first forays in Africa ...........................................................................................................................................32 Collecting today: wild relatives of bananas .............................................................................................................................................34 How to store seeds long term .....................................................................................................................................................................36 The world’s largest banana genebank .......................................................................................................................................................38 Freezing time: preserving plant genetic resources forever ...................................................................................................................40 The state of the world’s plant genetic resources ......................................................................................................................................42 The state of the world’s forest genetic resources .....................................................................................................................................44 A 10-year road map for Mesoamerica .......................................................................................................................................................46 Securing chocolate’s future.........................................................................................................................................................................48 Coconuts ........................................................................................................................................................................................................50 Incentives to conserve agrobiodiversity ...................................................................................................................................................52 Developing the science of on-farm conservation ....................................................................................................................................54 Date palms in North Africa ........................................................................................................................................................................56 Mapping threats to tree species .................................................................................................................................................................58 Crop wild relatives.......................................................................................................................................................................................60 30 years in China ..........................................................................................................................................................................................62 Community seedbanks ...............................................................................................................................................................................64 Establishing the Crop Trust ........................................................................................................................................................................66 Reflections from Leadership: The beginning...........................................................................................................................................68 Meet our Staff: Karol Araya, Qi Wei and Silvia Araujo de Lima ..........................................................................................................70 PLANT 73 Making the most of crop collections .........................................................................................................................................................74 ‘Germ-free’ germplasm ...............................................................................................................................................................................76 System-wide Genetic Resources Programme ..........................................................................................................................................78 Descriptors: A common language for crops ............................................................................................................................................80 Ontologies: The science of connecting disconnected data .....................................................................................................................82 Genesys: Genebank data at your fingertips .............................................................................................................................................84 Know your banana: The Musa Germplasm Information System ........................................................................................................86 Unravelling the banana genome ................................................................................................................................................................88 The Genetic Resources Policy Initiative ....................................................................................................................................................90 Resilient seed systems .................................................................................................................................................................................92 ECPGR: The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources ..................................................................................94 Banana research networks for innovation ...............................................................................................................................................96 Strengthening capacity................................................................................................................................................................................98 Cultivating plant genetic resource leaders .............................................................................................................................................100 The Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship: Experiences of a Fellow ...................................................................................................................102 From Rome to the world: spreading the word about agricultural biodiversity ...............................................................................104 Traditional knowledge: recognizing farmers as equal knowledge-holders ......................................................................................106 Seeds for Needs: Ethiopia .........................................................................................................................................................................108 Seeds for Needs: India ............................................................................................................................................................................... 110 Reflections from Leadership: Becoming Bioversity International 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