What We do
Bioversity's project portfolio is delivered by ten Projects, aggregated into four Programmes and three Research and Support Units (RSUs):
Programme on Diversity for Livelihoods
Project F01: Enhancing the contribution of agricultural biodiversity to human wellbeing
The Project aims at enhancing the use of agricultural and forest biodiversity to improve people's well-being. Major outputs are expected to include: 1) establishing a strong evidence base of to show how agricultural biodiversity provides nutrition and related health benefits that in turn result in incentives for maintaining this diversity sustainably and 2) identifying new biodiversity-based income options for the rural and urban poor. An important thrust of the project is directed towards the development of collaborative programmes that increasingly recognize the nutritional role of biodiversity and enhance the income opportunities of all actors -particularly the poor and marginalized - involved in the supply chains of biodiversity and its products. Key elements include developing public-private partnerships on value-adding efforts, contributing expertise and methodologies to global initiatives to document and exploit the nutritional potential of biodiversity, strengthening community-based market systems in support of local production, and reinforcing capacities of local stakeholders. The Project has a special emphasis on neglected and underutilized species in view of their valuable role in income diversification, and their strategic contribution to enhanced food and nutritional security. Through the ILAC Inter-Centre Initiative, the project aims also to increase the contributions of international agricultural research to sustainable poverty reduction.
Project F02: Productivity, resilience and ecosystem services from community management of diversity in production systems
The Project is concerned with developing practices that support communities in their use of genetic diversity to maintain and improve productivity, resilience and resistance in production systems. This includes enhancing the use of crop genetic diversity to manage biotic stress in production systems; determining the linkages between genetic diversity in production systems and ecosystem services; and enhancing the management of the cultivated/wild interface to increase farmers sustainable use of local crop genetic diversity. The Project also aims to understand better the role of seed systems in maintaining and promoting the continued evolution of available crop genetic diversity in productions systems; and the social processes that empower communities and local institutions to use knowledge
Project F10: Status, trends and valuation of agrobiodiversity
Knowledge of the extent, distribution and value of genetic resources is central to improving the sustainable conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity, as recognized by international initiatives such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Global Plan of Action on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GPA-PGRFA), the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources (GPA-AnGR) and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). This information is required by the parties to the CBD and other initiatives to reduce the rate of agricultural biodiversity loss and to fulfill their national and international obligations. This new Project aims to assess the status, trends and values of agricultural biodiversity at the genetic level, and to provide a mechanism for long-term monitoring of genetic erosion. The Project will develop standard methodologies and indicators for genetic diversity assessment, and develop prediction models to study the trends of biodiversity change. It will work with partners to demonstrate their application with case studies at the national and regional levels for a number of target crops and livestock, and at the global level for CGIAR mandate crop and animal species. In addition, the Project will assess and develop tools for the economic valuation of agricultural biodiversity in order to improve decision making regarding the efficient allocation of resources to plant and animal genetic resources conservation and sustainable use, and improve awareness of agrobiodiversity among NARS. The Project will also assist in enhancing the capacities of NARS to monitor the status and trends of diversity, and will contribute to implementation of the international conventions and treaties.
Programme on Improving Livelihoods in Commodity Based Systems
Project F03: Managing biodiversity to improve livelihoods in commodity crop-based systems
The Project focuses on alleviating constraints and building opportunities along the impact pathway that links the conservation and improvement of banana, cocomut, and cacao genetic resources (Project F04) to impacts on livelihoods. Targeted work areas include understanding and managing pest and disease diversity, managing crop and crop-associated diversity to improve the productivity and sustainability of diverse, high- and low-input systems, and addressing deficiencies in cultivar deployment and clean seed multiplication systems. The Project develops tools for linking the stakeholders involved in crop production with those who add value to commodities post-harvest, through diverse processing and marketing opportunities. The Project also addresses the issues of assuring access to relevant information (through regional and global information services) and of building the capacity of stakeholders to work together for more effective actions. Activities include component research (for instance to understand the ecology of soil-borne diseases) with more action-oriented and participatory research focused on integrating knowledge and testing organizational models in pilot sites. These activities are carried out with advanced research and selected country partners. The network-based approach contributes to priority setting with country partners, and encourages wide exchange of experiences and innovations. National agriculture research systems (NARS) and other partners more directly linked with rural communities are supported through capacity building to manage these interventions and to institutionalize and scale-out successful interventions.
Project F04: Conserving and promoting the use of genetic resources of commodity crops
This Project promotes the conservation and effective use of the genetic diversity of three commodity crops of special importance to smallholders in developing countries. For Musa, this project seeks to develop technologies for the effective conservation, characterization and improvement of genetic diversity. Representative materials of Musa diversity are brought into Bioversitys state-of-the-art in vitro genebank at the International Transit Center (ITC) where most accessions are held 'in trust', under the ITPGRFA. Collective action for the rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System will support more effective management of genetic resources. For coconut, the project strengthens conservation and characterization of coconut diversity ex situ, in field genebanks, and on farm. It develops, evaluates and promotes the use of improved varieties and hybrids to increase farmers' yields. For cacao, activities involve the exchange and evaluation of cacao selections on experimental stations and farmers' fields, using conventional and participatory breeding approaches, and the development and validation of tools for improved conservation and efficient selection. Members of the Global Musa Genomics Consortium are collaborating to advance understanding of the Musa genome, and especially by seeking homologies with the better-known genomes of rice and Arabidopsis, to support both conventional and transformation-based crop improvement. Additional services to Musa breeding are provided by the ProMusa network and its specialist working groups. The project works across commodities to provide access to information on accessions in collections around the world, including phenotypic and molecular characterization data and the results of evaluations.
Programme on Understanding and Managing Biodiversity
Project F05: Enhancing the ex situ conservation and use of genetic diversity
This Project aims to improve the ex situ conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity, including crop wild relatives, as a means to mitigate the impacts of global threats such as water scarcity and climate change. To harness the range of traits available among useful plant species, this diversity must be effectively collected, conserved, characterized, evaluated and made available to stakeholders who can use it to enhance the quality and quantity of agricultural products that can improve livelihoods. The Project team will work with partners, including SGRP, to collate, validate and make available best practices to help genebank curators effectively and efficiently conserve and manage their collections. Research will be carried out to develop and promote participatory, innovative and cost-effective conservation and management strategies for more efficient conservation. The Project will work with partners to develop strategies and tools for identifying useful traits among genetic resources held ex situ, and to develop mechanisms to promote their use in crop improvement programmes, especially for productivity, quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Special consideration will be given to screening of crop wild relatives. The Project will support the development of core and trait-based collections in order to facilitate access to agrobiodiversity and mining for genes and alleles. Strategies and tools for developing cultivars adapted to specific conditions, including marginal areas, will be produced. The Project will achieve this through increasing collaboration between genebanks and users of materials in order to enhance the use of conserved agrobiodiversity.
Project F06: In situ conservation and use of forest and other wild species
The Project aims to assess and document the diversity of useful wild species; study and make known their benefits; analyze the threats to their persistence; and provide knowledge, strategies, mechanisms and tools to facilitate conservation and sustainable use of wild species and their variation. The anticipated impacts of the Project will be improved livelihood benefits, enhanced protection of biodiversity, and more productive and sustainable managed ecosystems. F06 works with an array of partners and stakeholders in developing countries, mostly in tropical regions. The Project focuses on the wild relatives of domesticated crops (CWR), which provide genes to improve crop resistance to a range of pests, diseases and abiotic stresses; and species yielding products harvested from the wild,mainly timber and fruit trees. Through its F06 Project, Bioversity aims to provide global leadership in the research, conservation and enhanced sustainable use of intraspecific diversity in tropical tree species. Research will be undertaken on a small number of priority model tree species, selected from different forest ecosystems, with different reproductive biologies and patterns of utilization, and which are subject to different major threats. Outputs will include knowledge, practices, policy strategies, and improved capacity for conservation and management of the diversity of useful wild species in situ in protected areas or managed natural forests, or in plantations or restored forests or in complementary ex situ settings.
Project F07: Biodiversity informatics
This Project aims to improve the management of, access to, and use of plant genetic resources information through standardized information gathering and management; facilitated use, exchange and access; and capacity building. Biodiversity informatics plays a major role in the effective conservation and use of plant genetic resources by facilitating efficient collaboration between genebanks holding complementary collections and by enabling breeders and other users to access information on germplasm held in different genebank collections. The Project is creating a global accession-level information system in support of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and its global information system.
Programme on Global Partnerships
Project F09: Strengthening global systems for conservation and use of genetic resources
The Project contributes to the development of more effective global and regional collaboration on conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. It supports the further development of international programmes, plans and initiatives that are part of global systems of conservation and use of genetic resources. It has three main elements, the first of which is analysis to determine strengths and weaknesses in existing global systems, opportunities and mechanisms for improved collaboration, and improved regional and global conservation strategies. Secondly the Project provides inputs to global and regional processes, organizations and networks to ensure appropriate recognition of agricultural biodiversity conservation, including appropriate awareness raising and capacity building activities. Thirdly it supports various organizations and mechanisms, such as networks, that support global conservation systems. Through the Project, Bioversity discharges its responsibilities as convening Centre of the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP); and in partnership with FAO, its provides support for the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT). It also hosts the Global Facilitation Unit (GFU) on Underutilized Species of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), and the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR). The Project includes initiation and coordination of regional collaborative actions to facilitate the implementation of regional strategies and policies at national level.
Policy and Law RSU
Project F08: Policy and law
The Project contributes to genetic resources policy-development at global, regional, national, and CGIAR system-wide levels. These contributions mostly take the form of research products, and activities and tools to strengthen the capacity of partners to engage in policy analysis, and to raise awareness of the importance of policy-related issues. The Project's international work is conducted primarily through the CGIAR’s System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP) through which Project staff represent the CGIAR at meetings of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Project's system-wide work is provided through SGRP, the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee (GRPC) and the Central Advisory Service on Intellectual Property (CAS-IP), through which it coordinates development of system-wide policies and related legal instruments relevant to the management, collection and distribution of genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA), and assists Centres with IP management, and technology transfer. At regional and national levels, the Project supports partners in participatory research (and related capacity-building) to develop policies which encourage uses of GRFA to assist the poor. In the coming years, emphasis will be on developing laws, policies, practices and legal instruments to support development of the global system of conservation and use of plant genetic resources, and (less so) issues concerning management of farm animal and agricultural microbial genetic resources.
Capacity Development RSU
The Unit aims to strengthen human and institutional capacity of developing countries to enable them to manage and maintain their genetic resources. In close collaboration with Projects F01-F10, CDU focuses on institutional platforms and mechanisms for adapting, scaling up and sharing knowledge products, tools and methodologies deriving from Bioversity's research Projects. CDU delivers outputs related to formal education, skills based training in gap areas, learning materials and learning processes.
Public Awareness RSU
Increasing awareness of the value of agricultural biodiversity and of the options it can offer for improving human health and well-being is crucial if the potential of that diversity is to be realized. The Public Awareness (PA) Unit will coordinate a global awareness campaign, Diversity for Life, to inspire a better understanding of the role that diversity can play to improve nutrition and other elements of human well-being. The principal audiences for the campaign include policymakers, schools, and the media.