UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY FOR HARMONIOUS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Diversity is as crucial for the survival of humanity as the air we breathe and the water we drink. Understanding diversity is a prerequisite for the promotion of the sustainable utilisation of crop diversity (the raw material for improving and adapting crops to meet future challenges), essential to respond to the unprecedented demands on agriculture posed by increasingly unpredictable and changing climate as well as the increasing pressure of constantly evolving pests and diseases, by providing extra source of material and knowledge. In spite of the many challenges ahead impacting in agricultural production, like the threat of genetic erosion, deforestation, changes in key climatic features (i.e. temperature increase) and food insecurity, there are a number of elements that play a crucial role in contributing to attaining the goals of harmonious and sustainable development such as the genetic diversity in germplasm collections maintained at local, national, regional and global level, that need to be harnessed, by means of understanding the diversity, for the benefit and improved well-being, ensuring food and nutrition security and healthy life for present and future generations of humankind.