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the Challenge of Food Security
News & Events
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The 2010 International Development Conference, focusing on food security imperatives in relation to biodiversity conservation was held on 30 and 31 August and 1 September in Parliament House in Canberra.
PDFs of the presentations will be available on this site from 4 September. ...read more -
Internationally-renowned Australian conservation biologist Professor Stephen Hopper made the Sir John Crawford Memorial Address in Parliament House on 30 August as part of the Crawford Fund’s 2010 annual conference – “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People.” ...more
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A better understanding of the diversity, distribution, evolution and ecology of life is essential for a sustainable future. It can also open new avenues for agriculture and food security. This was the message given by Dr Cristián Samper, Director of the world’s largest and most visited natural history collection, the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. ...more
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Proceedings 2009 - World Food SecurityCan Private Sector R&D Feed the Poor?
The Crawford Fund’s 2009 Parliamentary Conference focused on the potential role of private sector research and development in helping feed the world’s poor. The conference proceedings are now available. ...more
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These are the Proceedings of a symposium held to celebrate 50 years of Rhizosphere research and leadership by Dr Albert Rovira. The papers consider a variety of aspects of rhizosphere research on microbial and faunal communities and their interactions with plant growth and production. ...more
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Streptococcus suis is a cause of serious disease in pigs and associated, fortunately rarely, with fatal infections in humans. While not a common disease transmitted from animals to humans in Australia, an article in the Medical Journal of Australia back in 2008 considered two cases of Streptococcus suis endocarditis in Australian piggery workers. ...more
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Australia and the world’s leading international wheat research and training organisation, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (‘CIMMYT’ from the Spanish name) are to focus their 25 years of successful collaboration on food security in Africa. A new A$20 million agricultural research and development program aims to substantially boost production of maize and legumes and improve market opportunities for farmers in southern and eastern Africa. ...more
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The monitoring and surveillance of plant pests and diseases is vital in any effort to improve bio-security. CABI and its partners are scaling up efforts to improve plant health by linking up crucial information resources from around the world. ...more
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Landcare – an Australian-born community-based movement which addresses natural resource problems – may be key to boosting food security and incomes in some of the poorest countries of the world. ...more
Feature Story
Court Decision goes against PAVLOVSK Research Station
Entrance to the offices at Pavlovsk Station.
Photo: Cary Fowler/Global Crop
Diversity Trust
From the Bioversity website:
The destruction of the globally important collection of fruit biodiversity at Pavlovsk Experiment Station moved a step closer today with a court decision in favour of the federal housing authority, but some hope remains. The N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) says it will today lodge an appeal with the Supreme Arbitration Court. This gains campaigners another month to save Pavlovsk.
“This is a sad day,” said Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity international, which has been campaigning to help save the collection. “But,” he added, “there is hope. We do have another month to try and show the Russian authorities that the fruit and berry varieties that have been stored and studied at Pavlovsk since it was founded in 1926 have a vital role to play in the future of Russian and global agriculture.”
IAR in the News
Dietary Diversity the best approach to diet-related diseases
A new approach to hunger and malnutrition is needed to cope with the unprecedented epidemic of diet-related diseases around the world, warned Dr Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International, a research centre dedicated to the use of agricultural biodiversity.
Dr Emile Frison
Dr Frison joined other biodiversity conservation specialists and advocates at the Crawford Fund’s 2010 international conference titled “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People,” being held in Parliament House, Canberra over 30 August to 1 September.