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There are an increasing number of experiences promoting seed conservation, multiplication and sharing in order to preserve agro-biodiversity.
Photo credits: Cristina Vega. ©FAO
The level of diversity of animal and plant species has a direct impact on the nutritional quality of the food we have access to, and thus on people’s health.
The NBFC has studied the links between ecosystem degradation and declining nutrient availability, advocating policies that promote biodiversity conservation hand in hand with sustainable agricultural practices, such as organic and regenerative farming.
In this context, the focus on seeds, brought forward as early as the 15th century by the institution of the monti frumentari, seed banks established by Franciscan friars to support farmers, plays a key role. The contemporary “grandchildren” of these institutions, called Community Seed Banks (BCS), have sprung up in the past three decades in the “global south” and more recently have spread to Europe. BCSs, like the Réseau Semences Paysannes in France and by the Quarantina Consortium in Italy, engage in seed multiplication, training and participatory selection.
These practices seek to counter the loss of biodiversity of agricultural crops, and promote accessibility and circulation of seeds. In this diverse landscape, some countries, such as Spain, France, and Italy focus on farmer-led conservation and agroecology, while the experiences of the United Kingdom and Denmark favor the circulation of local varieties through exchange between amateur horticulturists and farmers.
BCSs contribute significantly to the realization of many aspects enshrined in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (ITPGRFA) promoted by the FAO, including benefit sharing and farmers’ rights. Through the Benefit Sharing Fund, the Treaty supports more than 200 global BCS, helping to ensure equitable access and sharing of resources. One emblematic example is in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where communities are restoring native cultures, such as maize and potatoes. One of the goals of the project is to strengthen community seed banks, ensuring access to and exchange of quality seeds. In this context, BCSs not only strengthen food security and climate resilience, but also transmit ancestral knowledge and traditional knowledge, protecting cultural heritage and continuity between generations.
These principles are finding concrete application in the project NBFC is developing in Tanzania, in the Lake Manyara Basin area. This area, rich in biodiversity, is facing widespread conflicts between humans and wildlife, characterized by landscape degradation and extreme poverty among local communities. NBFC’s intervention aims to engage the community in a process of change that, for example, will allows for the recovery of the balance of the land through the recovery of traditional practices and seeds and the introduction of non-intensive forms of agriculture.
Photo credits: Francis Moyo
The contents of the online exhibition are based on the chapters of the volume “DisSeminActions: Telling Biodiversity.” Ledizioni, 2025 – open access