Cary Fowler
Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust“Current food supplies and future food security, as well as our fragile environment are all dependent on crop diversity,” says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. “Crop diversity provides the natural, biological basis of our ability to grow the food required today, as well as to meet the challenges of population growth, changing climates and constantly evolving pests and diseases.”
That’s why the Global Crop Diversity Trust actively promotes the conservation of valuable plant genetic resources. One way to achieve this is the Trust’s participation in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an underground cavern on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, where crop seeds from all over the world are stored. The Seed Vault, opened in February 2008, holds duplicate samples of seeds held in genebanks worldwide and serves as a refuge for seeds in the case of large scale regional or global crises.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Cary Fowler has devoted 30 years to the research and conservation of crop diversity. Prior to joining the Global Crop Diversitry Trust in Rome, Fowler was professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. In the 1990s, he headed the International Conference and Program on Plant Genetic Resources at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Fowler is the author of several books and over 75 scientific articles on the subject of plant genetic resources. He was awarded the Swedish Right Livelihood Award and in 2008 received an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University (Canada).