Enhance food plant diversity conservation and use through greater coordination between genebanks and botanic gardens

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Food plants are vital to human and planetary health, but their diversity is threatened, making food security, nutrition, and environmental goals more difficult to achieve. Food plant diversity conservation, research, and education can be enhanced through collaboration between sectors, including genebanks and botanic gardens, which possess complementary strengths but have historically tended to work in isolation. We describe a vision for conserving and promoting food plant diversity through closer cross‐sectoral collaboration, offering examples of recent successes and announcing the launch of the Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants. Summary Food plant diversity is essential to food security and human nutrition and to productive, resilient, and sustainable food systems. Genebanks and botanic gardens hold large and varied collections of this diversity but have historically tended to work in isolation from each other on conservation, research, and education. We describe a vision for conserving and promoting food plant diversity by leveraging the complementary strengths of these sectors. To catalyze a more integrated global system for the conservation and sustainable use of food plant diversity, essential steps include better understanding and documenting the multiple dimensions of this diversity, conserving it, positioning it for broader use, and raising awareness about it, all of which require greater coordination around information, policies, and actions. We offer examples of recent efforts that have increased collaboration between these sectors and announce the launch of the Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants.