15 April 2016: Governments, international organizations and members of the private sector have pledged financial contributions to the Crop Endowment Trust Fund of the Global Crop Diversity Trust (the Crop Trust) that will lead to a doubling of the Trust’s resources to support international gene banks and research aiming to conserve and sustainably use the world’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA).

Held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, US, the Crop Trust Pledging Conference was attended by government officials from 50 countries as well as representatives of international institutions and private sector organizations to pledge support for PGRFA conservation as a means of ensuring global food security. The contributions increase the size of the Crop Endowment Fund to US$300 million, thereby doubling the amount of financial resources available.

In his keynote address, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson highlighted the importance of the work of the Crop Trust in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2 to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture,” noting that target 2.5 calls for the global community to “maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels.”

The Conference featured an innovative Investment Sharing Facility that allowed private investors and seed industry organizations to contribute to the Crop Trust, such as World Coffee Research, a collaborative research initiative of the global coffee industry, and METal, an organization of entrepreneurs in media, entertainment and technology, as well as several members of the international seed industry.

The Crop Trust was established by Bioversity International on behalf of the CGIAR Consortium to ensure financial support for the CGIAR system of international gene banks, which are also a key component of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR). [Crop Trust Press Release on outcomes] [Keynote Address of UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson] [Crop Trust Press Release on Partnership with World Coffee Research] [Blog Post by Bioversity International Director General Ann Tutwiler]