Biodiversity Conservation Highlighted

October 9, 2015

During his visit to Australia to present the Sir John Crawford memorial address, the Crawford Fund arranged for Dr Cary Fowler, biodiversity advocate, to be interviewed by ABC TV’s One Plus One program.

The profile interview on Cary’s life and passion for conservation, and his work towards the establishment of the Svalbard Seed Vault, is now available on the national broadcaster’s play on demand site.

Extensive media coverage on the issue of seed conservation, and of the importance of the Svalbard Seed Vault, has also come about due to recent disturbances in Syria. It was reported that the Syria-based International Centre for Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) had completely replicated its seed collection at Svalbard and that there was then a need to retrieve seed from the vault. More recent reports are that the ICARDA compound and genebank remain intact, despite nearby airstrikes.

In addition to interviews organised by the Fund for ICARDA’s Director General, Dr Mahmoud Sohl, and CIMMYT’s Director of Wheat Program, Dr Hans Braun, on ICARDA’s Syrian-based genebank, our board member, Dr Tony Gregson, was interviewed on ABC Sydney on the importance of crop biodiversity conservation and the Svalbard seed vault.

Dr Fowler’s Sir John Crawford Memorial Address will be available soon.