On the occasion of the First Session of the EWA-BELT General Assembly, held on September 27, 2024, at Spazio Cairoli in Milan, Dr. Giuseppe De Santis, from Rete Semi Rurali (RSR) showcased the activities of its organization in promoting the dynamic management of agri-diversity.
Founded in 2007, Rete Semi Rurali (Italian Seed Network) was established to strengthen and coordinate the activities of existing Italian associations devoted to agri-diversity – biodiversity cultivated in agriculture. At the core of its mission, seed diversity represents a cornerstone of transitioning towards more diverse cultivation practices.
As illustrated by Dr. Giuseppe De Santis, the work of Rete Semi Rurali highlights the need for cultivated diversity, moving beyond industrial agriculture’s uniformity to embrace biodiversity as a means to adapt to changing global conditions. The association aims to align with the agroecology framework and contribute to a paradigm shift in food systems by promoting diversity in the field.
Firstly, Dr. De Santis underlined how it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and agriculture from the perspective of agri-diversity. Agriculture is not only a major contributor to climate change but is also deeply affected by its consequences, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which showcased how global warming reduces agricultural production by 2% per decade while demand increases by 14%. In this context, by 2050, unfamiliar climates will cover 40% of the world, drastically affecting crop yields, and even a two °C increase above pre-industrial levels could lead to a significant decline in crop yields in temperate and tropical regions.
In this regard, Dr. De Santis highlighted how biodiversity loss would have catastrophic effects, and key crops like maize and rice could see a 25% reduction in diversity by the end of the century. Thereby, most crops will lose half of their distribution area, resulting in fragmented and vulnerable agricultural landscapes, and the loss of diversity also leads to the erosion of traditional knowledge, the disappearance of local varieties, and imbalances in ecosystems and nutrition. In this context, modern plant breeding has contributed significantly to biodiversity loss, as highlighted by Gibbons in 2006, who illustrated how this approach is akin to “sawing off the branch of the tree we are sitting on.”
In response to these challenges, Dr. De Santis showcased some alternative strategies promoted by Rete Semi Rurali and focused on increasing diversity in seed systems and on recognizing the value of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) – wild plant species closely related to cultivated crops. Indeed, these species hold immense potential for climate change adaptation, offering traits for resistance to pests and extreme climate events. In order to promote crop wild relatives, several steps should be taken, as protecting and analyzing the genetic reserves of wild species is crucial, incorporating wild parental genes into conventional breeding programs can increase resilience, and raising awareness of the importance of CWR remains limited, even in academic circles.
In this context, Rete Semi Rurali advocates for the use of heterogeneous materials in agriculture. This approach embraces diversity, starting with local varieties and introducing composite cross-populations and mixed populations into the field, with the final aim of maximizing biodiversity and its associated benefits.
To conclude, Dr. De Santis emphasized how the work of Rete Semi Rurali within Horizon projects, such as the CWR initiatives, demonstrates the effectiveness of these strategies. Nonetheless, addressing the global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change requires collaboration and concerted efforts to protect genetic reserves and integrate diverse genetic resources into breeding programs, ultimately building a resilient and sustainable agricultural system.
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