The world’s food supply depends on a diversity of plants, with over 25,000 edible species worldwide, yet this diversity is under unprecedented threat. Crop genetic resources are being lost due to habitat destruction, agricultural intensification, and the accelerating impacts of climate change. Without action, the foundations of global food security, nutrition, and cultural heritage are at risk.

The Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants (GCCFP) will launch to address these challenges. This new initiative is uniting a diverse set of stakeholders, including botanic gardens, genebanks, and research institutions, to safeguard and sustain food plant diversity for future generations.

The GCCFP is a Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) program working to mobilize a network of institutions and experts to collaboratively develop and implement comprehensive conservation strategies for priority threatened plant groups. NYBG will act as the Secretariat of the GCCFP for the first five-year term, in collaboration with the other institutions originally involved. It will serve as the central coordinator globally, bolstering linkages between genebanks, botanical gardens, and research organizations, as well as raising awareness of their importance.

To launch this new global initiative, NYBG will host a lunch on September 24, during Climate Week NYC. Speakers will highlight topics including crop diversity, global food security, conservation, and climate resilience. Jennifer Bernstein, CEO and President of NYBG will kick off the launch, followed by Mauricio Diazgranados, Chief Science Officer and Dean of Science, NYBG and Alex McAlvay, Assistant Curator, NYBG, will provide an overview of the initiative. Cristian Samper, Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, will give the principal discussion on the global perspective on conservation and climate. Susan Pell, Executive Director at the United States Botanic Garden, Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director of Crop Trust, and Mark Richardson, Executive Director, BGCI-US, will share insights from their respective organization along with experts and chefs. Local growers will host tables to showcase their produce and emphasize the importance of diverse food plants.

Discover more about the GCCFP below and find out more about the initiative here.

Food Plants: A Global Conservation Priority

Food plant diversity is essential to food security, human health and nutrition. It is critical to culture and agricultural sustainability. With the world facing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity accelerated by the climate crisis, and as leaders in botanical science and conservation, partners of the GCCFP are committed to safeguarding food plant diversity through collaborative conservation, research, and education.

By promoting complementary conservation strategies, the consortium ensures the preservation and sustainable use of food plants, their genetic resources, and their associated knowledge for future generations.

NYBG has a long-standing commitment to food security and plant-based sustainability. NYBG’s expertise in food plant research, ethnobotany, and conservation genetics—coupled with its strong community programs such as Bronx Green-Up and the Edible Academy—makes it an ideal hub to advance this global mission.

Goals and Impact

The GCCFP is dedicated to achieving eight key objectives:

• Improve Documentation: Enhance global documentation of food plant diversity, ensuring data from botanic gardens, agricultural genebanks, and other repositories, as well as from on farm and in situ habitat conservation programs, is widely available.
• Strengthen Conservation: Ensure food plant diversity is conserved more efficiently across botanic gardens, genebanks, and other repositories, as well as on farms and in natural habitats, enhancing effectiveness and building resilience of conservation efforts.
• Increase Access and Use: Promote better distribution, sharing, and use of food plant diversity and associated data, encouraging efficient, cost-effective, and rational access policies.
• Enhance Knowledge: Improve fundamental knowledge on food plant diversity, including taxonomy, systematics, uses, and conservation status assessments.
• Increase Efficiency: Foster more effective collaboration and coordination among botanic gardens, genebanks, and other repositories, to improve ex situ conservation processes, including acquisition, processing, storage, and distribution of plant materials and associated data.
• Recognize Complementarity: Define, report, communicate, and promote the complementary roles of botanic gardens, genebanks, and other repositories, as well as on farm and in situ habitat conservation programs, within international policy frameworks, ensuring their work is acknowledged and supported.
• Build Capacity: Strengthen the capacity of stakeholders through shared training opportunities, knowledge exchange, and technical support, ensuring that institutions involved have the skills and tools necessary for long-term food plant diversity conservation, use, and awareness raising.
• Raise Awareness: Inform practitioners, policy makers, and the public through outreach and education about the value of, and threats to, food plant diversity.

The GCCFP aligns with international initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, ensuring that conservation actions support broader sustainability goals.

A Collaborative and Inclusive Approach

To maximize impact, the GCCFP operates through a multi-tiered governance structure, including:

• A Global Steering Committee with representatives from BCGI, the Crop Trust, key botanical gardens and genebanks.
• A Global Lead Institution, with NYBG serving as the first host for a five-year term, overseeing coordination, communication, and resource mobilization.
• Regional Sub-Groups in North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, ensuring that conservation efforts are regionally relevant and inclusive.

Vision for the Future

If you enjoy eating and want to help feed the world, join our effort. Get involved with your local botanical garden, support the Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants, and sign up to receive updates on the GCCFP. Together, we can secure the future of food in the face of great challenges.