News
Bioversity and CIAT researcher awarded with Ebbe Nielsen Prize
Dr. Andy Jarvis
CIAT & Bioversity International scientist Andy Jarvis has won the prestigious Ebbe Nielsen Prize, for his pioneering research on agro-biodiversity. He will receive €30,000, which he plans to use to support young Latin American scientists to broaden the scope and impact of his research.
The Prize, sponsored by the Denmark-based Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), is awarded annually to one scientist for their innovative work in “bioinformatics” and “biosystematics” – the use of the latest computer technology in biodiversity research.
At just 31-years-old, Dr Jarvis has already become a world leader in agro-biodiversity research. He has produced groundbreaking studies on the importance of conserving so-called “crop wild relatives” – the naturally-occurring relatives of domesticated crops, and has used geographic modeling to predict the impact of climate change on agriculture. Using this novel technology, Jarvis and his team also mapped the distribution of hundreds of important crop wild relative species, evaluated their state of conservation and provided practical suggestions for their long-term conservation. The studies resulted in some shocking predictions of what climate change will do to these wild species, many of which have valuable genetic traits, that could be used to improve domesticated crops and enhance global food production.
“The news has made my day, my week, my year, and possibly, my decade!” said Dr Jarvis, a UK scientist who has been working in Colombia since 2000. “I’m delighted that the importance of agro-biodiversity research and conservation is now becoming widely-recognized.”
Dr Jarvis will be presented with the award at a ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2009. “Like most good things in life, the achievements that led to this award were the result of a team effort,” he continued. “While I am British, this is also an award for Latin America: my team members are all from Latin America, they are all under 30-years-old, they are all far smarter than me and they too should feel that they have won this award!”
Dr Ruben Echeverria, Director-General of CIAT, said: “This pathbreaking work of Andy and his team makes a practical contribution to improving the conservation of genetic resources which is absolutely vital to ensuring future food supplies and helping to end global hunger.”
Erick Mata of GBIF’s Science Committee said: “The decision was based on Andy’s excellent work on environmental modeling to improve the conservation and use of species related to agriculture and food security, and in particular to predict the impacts of climate change. This work demonstrates how specimen level data, such as that mobilized by GBIF, combined with taxonomic data from gene bank accessions, geographic and climate data can be used to provide a solid scientific basis for decision making.”
For further information please contact:
Neil Palmer
