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Chapter 4
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Safeguarding and Restoring
Agrobiodiversity
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Our fathers planted gardens long ago...
Whose fruits we reap with joy today;
Their labor constitutes a debt we owe...
Which to our heirs we must repay;
For all crops sown in any land...
Are destined for a future man.
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-Arab poet, Nizami
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| atural disasters
and/or conflicts can seriously damage agrobiodiversity both
in the field and in gene banks. Agrobiodiversity can also be
under threat when new seeds are imported on a massive scale
as urgent emergency aid in crises situations. The CGIAR Centers
have been attentive to this issue, applying |
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research knowledge and tools to gain a better understanding
of how agrobiodiversity is threatened in these situations and
how it can be protected. |
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| Gene banks:
priceless safety nets |
| With nearly 700,000
accessions of crops, forages and trees in their gene banks,
the CGIAR Centers are strategic global assets for the preservation
of agricultural biodiversity. Time and again these resources
have provided the last safety net against the irreversible loss
of valuable germplasm. |
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| Rwandan
farmers’ amazing bean diversity. Photo: CIAT |
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