In December 2018, Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create an Alliance that delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives.
Bioversity International and CIAT have complementary mandates with the potential for a high-impact, synergistic research-for-development agenda that can significantly inform and strengthen policies and actions to address the global challenges of poverty, malnutrition, climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss.
The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. With partners, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations in large-scale programmes to create food systems and landscapes that sustain the planet, drive prosperity and nourish people.
In March 2019, Juan Lucas Restrepo was appointed as Director General to Bioversity International, and CEO of the Alliance from January 2020, with a joint Board of Trustees.
The Alliance is part of CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural research and innovation partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources.
