BOLD News

In times of climate crisis and accelerated biodiversity loss, genetic conservation is an investment in resilience. Every seed stored in a genebank represents a possibility for adaptation for future generations. Unfortunately,...

Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, with cities absorbing most of that growth. At the same time, diets are changing, climate shocks are intensifying and policies still favor a few major crops. Against this backdrop,...

With temperatures rising and rainfall becoming scarcer in Tunisia, more farmers will turn to drought-tolerant barley to sustain both their households and their herds.

A hailstorm swept across Tunisia’s Kef region and wiped out an...

Every seed in a genebank is on a journey. 

The journey starts when the seed is collected in the field, continues through various stages of cleaning and drying, takes a bit of a pause in long-term storage, and eventually continues...

In a wheat field an hour’s drive south of Casablanca, Dr Ali Sahri and his team pose for a photo as the swaying spikes tickle their legs. Behind their smiles lies an awesome responsibility: to safeguard Morocco’s unique crop...

LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY, 22 October 2025 – Twenty genebanks representing every continent bar Antarctica deposited more than 21,000 seed samples to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week. Among them were new contributors from the...

Ecuador may be small in size, but it’s big in biodiversity. With landscapes that stretch from the Amazon to the Andes and even include the Galápagos Islands, this South American country is home to many plants and animals found...

Kazakhstan releases its first drought- and heat-tolerant variety of alfalfa, one of the world’s most important feed crops.  Developed thanks to wild relatives seeds stored in local and global genebanks, the new variety...

During the first few hours of daylight – before the sun gets high and it’s too hot outside – experimental fields at the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) research station in Cotonou, Benin, are buzzing with activity. Solar-powered...

Plant Breeders Innovate Against Climate Change 

Vietnam's agriculture is at a crossroads. Extreme weather events, higher temperatures and unpredictable rainfall are putting pressure on the country’s food supply and disrupting...

As genebanks around the world deposit seed samples in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week, the focus is on how crop diversity reflects cultural heritage.

LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY, 3 June 2025 – Fourteen genebanks will deposit...

Fighting Late Blight with Farmer-Approved, Disease-Resistant Spuds

Training Course in Uganda Taps Community Knowledge of Seed Systems

In this edition, our Seed Heroes series pays tribute to U.S. scientist Jack Harlan. His plant collection expeditions and profound multidisciplinary knowledge helped shape the future of crop diversity conservation and genebanks.

Every year, the Philippines braces for an average of 20 typhoons. And every year, the scientists at the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) in Los Baños do a lot of worrying. The next storm could erase decades of...

BOLDER Project Stakeholders Meet to Identify 15 Underutilized Species for Conservation and Use

Over 250 farmers, genebank experts, government representatives, and private-sector partners gathered in Benin, Ghana, Tanzania and...

Thousands of seeds from native African tree species and indigenous varieties of crops have been deposited in the cold, dry rock vaults of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the permafrost of northern Norway.

Established by the...

Staff count the cost of armed conflict and step up efforts to conserve Sudan’s unique collection of sorghum and other crops.

Almost two years after Sudan’s civil war broke out, the northeast African nation is experiencing one of...