Partnerships at the Heart of a Global Initiative to Collect, Conserve and Utilize Crop Wild Relatives.

The “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change” project is delivering global conservation and use of crop wild relatives through national and international partnerships. The project objectives are to collect and protect the genetic diversity of a portfolio of plants with the characteristics required for adapting the world’s most important food crops to climate change and to make available crop wild relative diversity in a form that plant breeders can readily use to produce varieties adapted to the new climatic conditions. Such adaptation is a key component of securing the world’s future food production. National partnerships and international collaborations are enabling and stimulating collection, conservation and characterisation of crop wild relatives. The knowledge and enthusiasm of partners are key to the success of the project. This presentation will explore the numerous ways in which partnerships are at the heart of this important initiative and how further collaborations are encouraged under its umbrella.