CGIAR Initiative: Genebanks <p class="ql-align-justify">The unprecedented rate of biodiversity loss is one of the defining global challenges of our time. Reduced biodiversity will undermine&nbsp;the&nbsp;resilience of agricultural systems, threaten nutritional security, and&nbsp;put at&nbsp;risk the foundations of crop improvement. SDG 2.5 highlights the importance of maintaining&nbsp;the&nbsp;genetic diversity of crops and their wild relatives through soundly managed genebanks&nbsp;and&nbsp;ensuring access to diversity and equitable benefit sharing, in accordance with international law<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>.&nbsp;Meanwhile, climate&nbsp;change&nbsp;is putting our increasingly homogeneous farming systems at risk of failure through extremes of abiotic stresses&nbsp;and&nbsp;severe occurrences of pests and diseases. The difficulty&nbsp;of&nbsp;predicting&nbsp;localized&nbsp;climate-related&nbsp;events&nbsp;and socioeconomic&nbsp;trends makes it critical to safeguard a broad range of genetic resources that can harbor valuable applications in&nbsp;many&nbsp;potential scenarios<span style="background-color: inherit;">ii</span>.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The homogenization of landscapes and farming systems is matched by the simplification of diets, which is contributing to the&nbsp;additional&nbsp;burden of malnutrition. Meanwhile,&nbsp;international disagreement concerning the governance of genetic resources and genomic information is exacerbating nationalism&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;these&nbsp;resources. This is&nbsp;reflected in the reluctance of some countries to cooperate internationally in exchanging genetic resources and related information, with negative impacts on agricultural research and development. These tensions are also contributing to unprecedented scrutiny of CGIAR programs’ compliance with international laws.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">To meet these challenges,&nbsp;there is a need to ensure&nbsp;that&nbsp;genetic resources are reliably conserved and made easily available.&nbsp;Better&nbsp;coordination&nbsp;is needed&nbsp;between organizations that are engaged in conserving plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)&nbsp;worldwide&nbsp;and&nbsp;the global system for conserving and making&nbsp;PGRFA&nbsp;available<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>&nbsp;must be strengthened. There are many new opportunities to manage, exchange and use genetic resources more effectively and to speed up plant breeding processes. There are needs for continuous technical improvement and innovation in seed quality management, imaging, cryopreservation, phytosanitary diagnostics as well as for characterizing germplasm and&nbsp;analyzing&nbsp;its potential value.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The&nbsp;Genebanks Initiative&nbsp;will a)&nbsp;conserve make available for use the in-trust<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(73, 80, 87);"> collections of more than 20 staple crops in ten locations across five continents&nbsp;(See&nbsp;</span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zMrSwp397l7MdgDZ33LwKFur5hekqXuI/edit?usp=sharing&amp;ouid=116677456140558475248&amp;rtpof=true&amp;sd=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Annex I</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(73, 80, 87);">&nbsp;for crop collections). </span>The collections are made freely available upon request to thousands of users worldwide every year under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty), accounting for a large amount of the germplasm being exchanged under the multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing; b) improve efficiencies and effectiveness by supporting long-term conservation activities at international standards, develop improved protocols and practices to improve efficiency and future-proof the genebanks and germplasm health units (GHUs); c) support CGIAR researchers and breeders as well as external users, by improving usefulness of managed genebank material for crop improvement and d) strengthen and support the global system through working together with strategic partners such as the Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust), Plant Treaty Secretariat and other international and national genebanks. The Initiative will, expand the scope of plant genetic resources conserved and made available globally through co-develop capacity&nbsp;building programs with these partners, promoting coordination, sharing responsibility, and ensuring  compliance with supportive policies.</p>