December 1, 2011 The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has issued a report calling for a new global framework for the conservation and sustainable use of the diversity of plants on which food and agriculture depend. This includes management of local plant diversity. One of the key priority activities is promoting in situ conservation and management of crop wild relatives and wild food plants. See the attached pdf item #4 page 18.
The policy strategy recommendations include:
- “…among the purposes and priorities of national parks and protected areas, the conservation of…..species gathered for food or feed in the wild”
- “consider integrating the conservation and management of ….wild food plants, in land-use plans in their centers of origin, centers of diversity and biodiversity hotspots
- “to improve knowledge of the uses of wild plants as….food”
- “adopt improved measures to counter the threat of invasive alien species that could affect negatively the in situ conservation of CWR and wild food plants”
Read the full report here.
The UN also issued its first global assessment of the state of the planet’s land resources and reports that 25% of the world land is highly degraded and current farmland production will be insufficient to meet the world’s growing food needs.