Wild relatives

WWF is a global environmental organization with an office in Japan since 1971. I wish they had more resources to lobby the Japanese government on issues related to crop biodiversity. In Bonn this month, important UN negotiations are taking place, indeed "flying under the radar" here in Japan.

Reuters notes that almost 200 nations are meeting for the UN Convention on Biodiversity from May 19-30 for negotiations on ways to protect the diversity of animals and plants from threats including pollution, climate change and loss of habitats:

"Basic food crops dangerously vulnerable," the WWF said in a headline of a statement about a new WWF map showing that areas in which wild varieties of crops are protected often cover less than five percent of their natural ranges.

"We already have reserves and national parks to protect charismatic species like pandas and tigers, and to preserve outstanding areas of natural beauty," said Liza Higgins-Zogib, Manager of People and Conservation at WWF International.

"It is now time to offer protection to the equally valuable wild and traditional relatives of the plants that feed the world like rice, wheat and potatoes," she said.

Reuters: Crops' wild relatives need better protection: WWF

Aseed Japan is one of the few NGOs in Japan that deal with these important issues. While Japan is proud of the Kyoto Protocol and the Convention to stop climate change, they seem to have forgotten other important global work that came out of the UNEP and the 1992 Earth Summit/UNCED. People have short memories.

Did you know that May 22 was the International Day For Biological Diversity? No? Glad I told you? Drop me a comment.

"Of the 7,000 species of plants that have been domesticated over the 10,000-year history of agriculture, only 30 account for the vast majority of the food we eat every day," said United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. "Relying on so few species for sustenance is a losing strategy."

Do support WWF Japan.

(Photos of rice farming - in traditional theatre and on fields today - from the Torira blog)