The Government of Italy has made a pledge of support to Bioversity International to boost its research on the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural systems, including wild relatives of crops.
14 January 2014: The Government of Italy has made a pledge of support to Bioversity International to boost its research on the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural systems, including wild relatives of crops.
The support from Italy will be used to research valuation methods, economic decision-support tools and incentive approaches to motivate farmers to undertake conservation activities in Latin America, Asia and Europe. It will also contribute to participatory methodologies for assessing agricultural biodiversity at research sites of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), of which Bioversity is a member. The funds will also be used to identify useful traits in crop wild relatives in order to contribute to climate change adaptation and food security. [Bioversity International Press Release]