Posted on: 12 September 2025

Strengthening Global Food Security and Biodiversity Conservation

The Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants (GCCFP) is a new partnership between the Botanic Garden and Crop Communities.

At Eurogard 10 in Rome there will be an in-person workshop on Thursday 25th of September, 14.00-15.30. If you are attending Eurogard please consider joining this workshop to learn more about the Global Conservation Consortium programme and the new GCCFP.

Why Food Plants: plant diversity is essential to food security, human health and nutrition, and culture, and is critical to agricultural sustainability. With the world facing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity accelerated by the climate crisis, we are launching a new global collaboration, the Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants, to create a sustainable, coordinated global effort to enhance our food security and protect the planet’s edible biodiversity for future generations.

The Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants (GCCFP) is a collaboration led by the New York Botanical Garden, with support from Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the United States Botanic Garden, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Workshop at Eurogard details –

Thursday 25th of September, 14.00-15.30. Location / Venue: Eurogard Rome, Italy , FAO Headquarters (Austria Room).

An introduction to the Global Conservation Consortium on Food Plants – a partnership between the Botanic Garden and Crop Communities.

ABSTRACT: This interactive workshop introduces the newly established Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants (GCC-FP), coordinated by the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and the most recent addition to BGCI’s growing group of GCCs. The GCC-FP aims to enhance the complementary roles of botanic gardens and agricultural genebanks in conserving and sharing plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Participants will first be introduced to the Global Conservation Consortia model by BGCI, followed by a presentation outlining the GCC-FP’s scope and preliminary findings from a comparative analysis of food plant holdings in botanic gardens and genebanks. The session will then open up for discussion and invite European gardens that already maintain or are interested in developing food plant conservation activities to contribute ideas and to explore how they might contribute to the GCC-FP. A participatory segment will collect input on the kinds of support and collaboration activities that would be most useful for institutions working in this space. We also hope that representatives from other Global Conservation Consortia (GCCs) will be able to join the workshop to share their experiences, offer practical guidance, and help inform the development of the GCC-FP based on lessons learned across the broader GCC network. The workshop is designed for professionals from botanic gardens and related conservation organizations who are interested in advancing the long-term conservation and sustainable use of food plant diversity. It aims to build awareness, connect potential partners, and help shape the future direction of GCC-FP activities in Europe.

GCCFP Partners