The role of plant breeding in adapting crops to climate changes that affect food production in developing countries is recognized as extremely important and urgent, alongside other agronomic, socio-economic and policy adaptation pathways. To enhance plant breeders’ capacity to respond to climate challenges, it is acknowledged that they need to be able to access and use as much genetic diversity as they can get. Through an analysis of data from a global survey, we explore if and how public breeders in selected developing countries are responding to climate challenges through a renewed or innovative use of plant genetic resources, particularly in terms of types of material incorporated into their breeding work as well as sources of such germplasm. It also looks at the possible limitations breeders encounter in their efforts towards exploring diversity for adaptation. Breeders are clearly considering climate challenges. In general, their efforts are aimed at intensifying their breeding work on traits that they were already working on before climate change was so widely discussed. Similarly, the kinds of germplasm they use, and the sources from which they obtain it, do not appear to have changed significantly over the course of recent years. The main challenges breeders faced in accessing germplasm were linked to administrative/legal factors, particularly related to obtaining genetic resources across national borders. They also underscore technical challenges such as a lack of appropriate technologies to exploit germplasm sets such as crop wild relatives and landraces. Addressing these limitations will be crucial to fully enhance the role of public sector breeders in helping to adapt vulnerable agricultural systems to the challenges of climate change.

The international collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers are important components of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s global system of conservation and use of PGRFA. They also play an important supportive role in realizing Target 2.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper analyzes CGIAR genebanks’ trends in acquiring and distributing PGRFA over the last 35 years, with a particular focus on the last decade. The paper highlights a number of factors influencing the Centers’ acquisition of new PGRFA to include in the international collections, including increased capacity to analyze gaps in those collections and precisely target new collecting missions, availability of financial resources, and the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws and phytosanitary regulations. Factors contributing to Centers’ distributions of PGRFA included the extent of accession-level information, users’ capacity to identify the materials they want, and policies. The genebanks’ rates of both acquisition and distribution increased over the last decade. The paper ends on a cautionary note concerning the potential of unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information to undermine international cooperation to conserve and use PGRFA.

This article describes how CGIAR centers and partners are using genomic sequence information to promote the conservation and sustainable use of crop genetic diversity, and to generate and share benefits derived from those uses. The article highlights combined institutional, and benefit-sharing-related challenges that need to be addressed to support expanded use of digital sequence information in agricultural research and development.

There is growing recognition that sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems and their successful adaptation to changes in climate will depend upon the improved access to, and use of, genetic diversity. This paper analyzes how the collection, use and distribution of plant genetic resources by the Consortium of International Research Centers of the CGIAR are influenced by international and national policies, treaties and agreements. Some concerns exist among CGIAR scientists about continued access to, and distribution of, plant genetic resources. Study findings point to an increasing influence of international and national policies and legal frameworks on the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) by the CGIAR centers and the dissemination of CGIAR-improved germplasm first to partners in agricultural research organizations and then to final users of new plant varieties developed through research partnerships. This situation may, in the longer term, have a serious impact on the utilization of plant genetic diversity to cope with current and predicted challenges to agricultural production and, in particular, climate change.

As multiple UN fora develop parallel rules for sharing benefits from digital sequence information, we urge better coordination. International policymakers should focus on harmonizing new benefit-sharing rules to ensure open access to data, database interoperability, and better benefit sharing outcomes.

We explore how seed systems enhance access to seeds, and information for climate-change adaptation in farming communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as how gender-driven roles and institutional dynamics influence the process. Men and women farmers equally experience climate-change related effects, including drought, short rainy seasons and increased pest and disease incidence. Our study relies on exploratory data analysis of 1001 households surveyed in four sites in 2016. Farmers surveyed preferred early-maturing, heat-tolerant, high-yielding, and pest- and disease-resistant varieties, all important climate-adaptive traits. Seed systems of the focus crops studied are largely informal—overall, 68% women and 62% men use their own seed, indicating women’s higher reliance on ‘informal’ seed and information sources. Only 21% of respondents reported interacting with seed experts who are affiliated with formal organizations. Both formal and informal organizations play a key role in providing access to climate-adapted seed/information, with access for men and women varying across the countries studied. There is a need to support further development of those connections, building on existing social networks. We conclude that inclusive and gender-responsive context- and country-specific seed interventions will ensure equitable outcomes, increase women’s empowerment and strengthen both formal and informal seed systems for more effective climate-change adaptation.