Global Crop Diversity Trust
The Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) says its mission is "to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide".[1]
However, among its funders are genetic modification (GM) corporations Syngenta and DuPont, which depend on the privatization and patenting of genes for profit (see Funding, below).
Activities
One of the GCDT's programmes is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault or Doomsday Vault, as the media have nicknamed it. This is a vast storage unit in Northern Norway for the world's germplasm (seeds) that GCDT claims "will be the ultimate safety net for the world’s most important natural resource".[2]
Affiliations
- Bioversity International: The Global Crop Diversity Trust is listed among the Top 20 donors to Bioversity International in BI's Annual Report 2008.[3]
People
Board
As at June 2009:[4]
- Margaret Catley-Carlson – chair
- Wangari Maathai – vice-chair
- Lewis Coleman
- Sir Peter Crane – fellow of the Royal Society, UK
- Jorio Dauster – board chairman of Brasil Ecodiesel
- Adel El-Beltagy – chair of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)
- Cary Fowler – former member of the National Plant Genetic Resources Board of the US and the Board of Trustees of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico
- Emile Frison – director general of Bioversity International
- John Lovett – chair of the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity, Australia
- Karl Erik Olsson – former Minister of Agriculture of Sweden
- Modibo Tiémoko Traoré – former Minister for Rural Development with the Government of Mali. FAO Assistant Director-General charged with the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department.
Funding
According to the GCDT website, its donors as of June 2009 are the following governments, foundations and corporations:[5]
- Australia (AusAID)
- Brazil (EMBRAPA)
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/UN Foundation
- Canada (CIDA)
- CGIAR Centres
- Colombia (Ministry of Agriculture)
- DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred
- Egypt (Ministry of Agriculture)
- Ethiopia
- Gatsby Charitable Foundation
- Germany
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Gordon J. Hammersley Foundation
- Grains Research and Development Corporation
- India (Ministry of Agriculture)
- International Seed Federation
- Ireland (Irish Aid)
- Italy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust
- New Zealand (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
- Norway (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Sam Spiegel Foundation
- Spain
- Sweden (Sida)
- Switzerland (SDC)
- Syngenta AG
- Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture
- Systemwide Genetic Resources Programme
- United Kingdom
- United Nations Foundation
- United States of America (USAID)
- World Bank - CGIAR
Contact
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Resources
Notes
- ↑ Our mission, Global Crop Diversity Trust website, accessed June 27 2009
- ↑ Arctic Seed Vault, GCDT website, accessed 27 June 2009
- ↑ Bioversity International Annual Report 2008, p. 27, accessed 27 June 2009
- ↑ http://www.croptrust.org/main/board.php?itemid=70 Board], GCDT website, accessed June 27 2009
- ↑ Donors, GCDT website, accessed June 27 2009
