WiserEarth Suggestions

Diverseeds Documentary Film. Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

In agriculture, the widespread adoption of a few improved varieties has narrowed the genetic base of important food crops and led to the disappearance of hundreds of landraces. Conserving and using plant genetic diversity is vital in meeting the world’s future development needs in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. This documentary shows why biodiversity is important for agriculture and how it is conserved and used in many different locations in Europe and Asia.

The film describes – with splendid pictures from Europe and Asia – the relevance of traditional landraces, crop wild relatives, genebanks (including the Global Seed Vault), and civil society movements in the global challenge to preserve and use plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The production of the film was part of the activities carried out in the 2-year EC funded project DIVERSEEDS (www.diverseeds.eu). The aim of the project was to enhance networking activities on conservation and use of plant genetic resources between Europe and Asia, and the film was part of the dissemination activities for a general audience.

The film can be used to explain the importance of plant genetic resources to farmers, students, high school students, government officials, funding agencies or the general public.  The DVD contains the Diverseeds Documentary Film (50 minutes) but also several short film clips on different subjects such as:

• Traditional Italian Farmer, Italy – 02:09
• The Ramat Negev Agro-Research, Israel – 04:00
• The Israel Gene Bank, Israel – 03:14
• Crop Wild Relatives in the Fertile Crescent, Israel – 02:45
• Austrian NGO Arche Noah, Austria  – 04:03
• British NGO Garden Organic, UK – 03:35
• Swiss NGO Pro Specie Rara, Switzerland – 04:56
• Organic Farming / Potato Day, UK – 04:06
• Development of New Tea Varieties, Vietnam – 02:28
• Participatory Plant Breeding of Rice, Vietnam – 02:19
• Intercropping, Vietnam – 02:06
• Plant Variety Protection, Thailand – 01:27
• The Thai Gene Bank, Thailand – 02:29
• Traditional Agriculture: Rice Terraces of Yunnan, China – 03:14
• The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway – 03:12

Several of the short films can be watches for free at the DIVERSEEDS website (http://www.diverseeds.eu/index.php?page=video).

To get the DVD and see the whole documentary film you can order via dvd@diverseeds.eu