Preservation of genetic diversity

From IssuesBriefs

Overview

As seen throughout time, genetic diversity is incredibly important. This is exemplified through blight of potatoes in the mid 19th Century in Ireland and is argued that potentially catastrophic outcomes could arise through the lack of diversity in the current population of bananas. A rare mutation caused wild bananas to go sterile and resultantly, most varieties of bananas grown today are cuttings, or effectively clones. This leaves room for disease to have a devastating effect on the current banana population. Due to issues such as these, there has been a movement to preserve genetic diversity as can be seen in the construction of the seed vault on the Arctic island of Svalbard. Similarly, there has been a growth in the small scale breeding of rare farm animals and crops to ensure continued genetic diversity. Although the preservation of genetic diversity is imperative to reduce vulnerability of crops and animals to disease, it is also important for the matter of preservation for various other reasons and merely to maintain biodiversity.

Contributors

• Cary Fowler - Executive Director of Global Crop Diversity Trust

Articles

• Cary Fowler: 'Tulip Prices and Food Crisis' [1]