Bioversity International (Bioversity) is one of the 15 CGIAR research centers headquartered in Rome. Its mission is to deliver scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural and tree biodiversity to attain sustainable global food and nutrition security. Restoring forest landscapes is recognized as one of the strategies for tackling some of the major environmental problems of our time, notably climate change, loss of biodiversity and desertification.
Restoration of degraded forest landscapes is also vital to delivery of multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Forest genetic resources are the foundation of resilient restoration, where billions of seeds are required to establish planting material and support natural regeneration. There has been widespread failure in past restoration projects to capture suitable diversity and quality of seed and seedlings.
Safeguarding existing forest genetic diversity, strengthening regional capacity for seed production and selection, identifying appropriate species for restoration and ensuring sustainable use of genetically diverse planting material are all critical to ensure current and future restoration projects meet their objectives and Sustainable Development Goals.
Bioversity’s ‘Trees for Seeds’ initiative provides the tools and capacity building for resilient restoration. Its activities include; the establishment of regional forest genetic resource networks, the identification of gaps in seed supply systems, strengthening seed production capacities and the provision of tools to assist with the conservation of priority species, as well as the selection of suitable species and planting materials to meet restoration objectives.
Resources/Media:
Infographic: Gender matters in forest landscape restoration
Publication: Genetic considerations in ecosystem restoration using native tree species
Brochure: Safeguarding investments in forest ecosystem restoration
Factsheet: Importance of genetics in forest landscape restoration