Adaptation to Climate Change and the Role of Agrobiodiversity

Summary

The world’s biological diversity is eroding. This concerns in particular the entire agri-cultural diversity of genes, species and their agrarian ecosystems, the resource base for food. With species becoming extinct, mankind is jeopardised. With climate change becoming reality, genetic resources are getting a new value as they are of vital impor-tance for adaptation. This calls for a revision of present conservation approaches. Emphasis has to be placed on in-situ conservation in order to allow a maximum of species conserved and to enable species adaptation to environmental change.