In-situ Conservation of Native Landraces and their Wild Relatives in Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the Vavilov's centers of origin of domesticated plants and animals and is one of the 10 centers highest biodiversity in the world. This medium-sized GEF project will target conservation of six important crop groups (rice, tro, tea, litchi-longan, citrus and ride bean) including native landraces and wild relatives in three local ec-geographical areas: the northern mountains, the northern midlands, and the north-west mountains of Vietnam. These areas ar rich in biodiversity of native landraces and their wild relatives. The six crop groups will be protected by mitigating the threats to the agrobiodiversity of the target sites and preserving their genetic diversity, thus improving global food security. This will be done through promoting community based gene management zones and providing the enabling conditions for preserving agrobiodiversity.