Energy News  
FARM NEWS
Lack of crop diversity threatens food security: UN

by Staff Writers
Rome (AFP) Oct 26, 2010
The genetic diversity of the plants that we grow and eat could be lost forever due to climate change, threatening future food security, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said on Tuesday.

Experts from the Rome-based organisation warned that the loss of biodiversity will have a major impact on humankind's ability to feed itself in the future as the global population rises to nine billion by 2050.

"There are thousands of wild crop relatives that... hold genetic secrets that enable them to resist heat, droughts, salinity, floods and pests," FAO director general Jacques Diouf was quoted in the report as saying.

"Increasing the sustainable use of plant diversity could be the main key for addressing risks to genetic resources for agriculture," he said.

The report estimated that 75 percent of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000 and called for "special efforts to conserve and use" both cultivated plants and their "wild" relatives, especially in developing countries.

Fifty percent of the increase in crop yields in recent years has come from new seed varieties, the report said.

FAO experts pointed in particular to the success of New Rice for Africa (NERICA), a cultivator of new types of rice suited to drylands that has transformed local economies in several parts of Africa.

The FAO's second report in 12 years on the state of the world's plant genetic resources covers a range of topics from gene bank collections to the effects of climate change.

The study predicts that as much as 22 percent of the wild relatives of important food crops of peanut, potato and beans will disappear by 2050 because of the changing climate.

The United Nations has named 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


FARM NEWS
Brazil says UN biodiversity summit needs biopiracy deal
Nagoya, Japan (AFP) Oct 26, 2010
Brazil's environment minister warned Tuesday that UN talks on biodiversity hinged on a deal being reached to stop genetic resources and knowledge being plundered in developing countries. Izabella Teixeira said securing a binding pact on ending "biopiracy" was imperative if there was to be a broader treaty at the talks, which are being held in Japan this week, to slow the mass extinction of s ... read more







FARM NEWS
Italy slaps restrictions on Google's Street View

TRMM Watches Richard Dump Rain On Belize

China launches own version of Google Earth

Prototype NASA Earth Camera Goes For Test Flight

FARM NEWS
'Exorbitant' price talk for Galileo maps way off beam: EU

Russia To Launch 8 Glonass Navigation Satellites In 2011-2013

S.Africa implants GPS chips in rhino horns to fight poaching

Rhinos equipped with GPS tracking

FARM NEWS
New Discoveries Concerning Pre-Columbian Settlements In The Amazon

Brazil mulls land auction to beat logging

Footage shows land clearing threatens Indonesia tigers: WWF

Litter collected, trees planted for global climate campaign

FARM NEWS
US Navy To Conduct Alternative Fuels Demo With Riverine Command Boat

Boeing Statement Regarding USDA-FAA Partnership On Aviation Biofuels

Carolina pioneering human waste-to-energy

Port Gibson Biomass Plans Taking Shape

FARM NEWS
Carlisle School District Unveils One Of Pensylvania's Largest Solar Arrays

Solar Frontier And IBM Sign Agreement To Develop CZTS Technology

First Ever US Solar Jobs Census Finds Solar Employment On The Rise

Fluor Develops Master Plan For South Africa Solar Park

FARM NEWS
Wind power to grow massively until 2030

China's wind power capacity to increase five-fold by 2020

Google in major bid for Eastern US wind power

Findings About Wind Farms Could Expand Their Use

FARM NEWS
Colombia coal mining gets a timely boost

China mines to beef up safety after Chile rescue: official

China mine death toll hits 31 as anger rises over rescue

Hope fades for trapped miners in China after 26 killed

FARM NEWS
US, China have 'fundamental disagreement' over Liu: Holder

China activists plan whistleblower site to spur reform

Wary Chinese will complicate huge census effort: official

China VP promoted as party pledges political reform


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement