Abstract
Crop wild relatives (CWR, plural CWRs) are those wild species that are regarded as the ancestors of our cultivated crops. It was only at the end of the last century that they were accorded a high priority for their conservation and, thus, for many genebanks, they are a new and somewhat unknown set of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. After defining and characterizing CWR and their general threat status, providing an assessment of biological peculiarities of CWR with respect to conservation management, illustrating the need for prioritization and addressing the importance of data and information, we made a detailed assessment of specific aspects of CWRs of direct relevance for their conservation and use. This assessment was complemented by an overview of the current status of CWRs conservation and use, including facts and figures on the in situ conservation, on the ex situ conservation in genebanks and botanic gardens, as well as of the advantages of a combination of in situ and ex situ conservation, the so-called complementary conservation approach. In addition, a brief assessment of the situation with respect to the use of CWRs was made. From these assessments we derived the needs for action in order to achieve a more effective and efficient conservation and use, specifically with respect to the documentation of CWRs, their in situ and ex situ, as well as their complementarity conservation, and how synergies between these components can be obtained. The review was concluded with suggestions on how use can be strengthened, as well as the conservation system at large at the local, national, and regional/international level. Finally, based on the foregoing assessments, a number of recommendations were elaborated on how CWRs can be better conserved and used in order to exploit their potential benefits more effectively.
Highlights
Today’s cultivated crop plants have undergone more or less drastic changes since their first cultivation and domestication
We focus on the wild species that are related to our crops, i.e., the crop wild relatives (CWRs)
They have in different ways contributed to the domestication process and can be regarded as the ancestral species or progenitors of our present crops, and they are a valuable resource of genetic diversity and traits for plant breeding
Summary
Today’s cultivated crop plants have undergone more or less drastic changes since their first cultivation and domestication. They have in different ways contributed (genetically) to the domestication process and can be regarded as the ancestral species or progenitors of our present crops, and they are a valuable resource of genetic diversity and traits for plant breeding It has taken several years after the global initiation of systematic collecting and conserving threatened landraces of our crops, somewhere in the 1960/70’s, until CWRs were systematically included, both at the national and international level. The report highlights the decreasing number of CWRs and mentions that many hotspots of agrobiodiversity and CWRs are under threat or not formally protected In response to this increasing visibility and importance of CWRs in global and international political agendas since the early 1990’s, numerous projects, tools, and guidelines have been initiated and developed at local/national, regional, and global levels. Due to the biological peculiarities of CWRs, there is a need for a strong collaboration between actors operating at different levels, especially between local/national and international, as well as between different sectors, such as agriculture and environment
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