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= The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT = The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is a research-for-development organization working in over 30 countries to deliver solutions for global food security, nutrition, sustainable land use, climate change adaptation, and the preservation of agrobiodiversity. Within the

CGIAR network of specialized agricultural research agencies, the Alliance works with partners from national governments, academia, civil society, NGOs, investors, and private-sector actors to support farming communities in low-income countries to improve long-term resilience, productivity and health.

The organization is highly decentralized, with almost 2,000 staff members – scientists, researchers, project managers, communicators and administrators – based across the world. With its headquarters in Rome (Italy), the Alliance has 32 official offices across the world, including three regional headquarters: Palmira (Colombia) for Latin America and the Caribbean, Nairobi (Kenya) for Africa, and Penang (Malaysia) for Asia.

Vision
The Alliance implements its research-for-development activities with the objective of achieving “food systems and landscapes that sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people”. To achieve these objectives, as outlined in its Strategy for 2020-25, the Alliance’s projects work towards:


 * Secure, diverse, nutritious foods
 * Inclusive, innovative, diversified agri-food markets


 * Productive and resilient landscapes
 * Shared, collective use and safeguard of agricultural biodiversity

Research
The Alliance’s research projects cover seven work areas: ‘Food Environment and Consumer Behavior’, ‘Multifunctional Landscapes’, ‘Climate action’, ‘Agrobiodiversity’, ‘Digital Inclusion’, ‘Crops for nutrition and health’, and ‘Gender, youth and inclusion’.

The Alliance publishes continuously on the work areas above, which are all openly accessible on its Publications and Data portal.

The Alliance’s research-for-development initiatives have led to the establishment of cutting-edge research facilities and outcomes, including:


 * Future Seeds gene bank in the Alliance’s Palmira campus, using genomics, digital phenotyping, and information technologies to explore the diversity of both common and wild crop species, freely distributing samples to farmers and researchers worldwide;
 * Coordination of award-winning plant breeding programs in Africa, including PABRA, holding the world’s largest collection of bean varieties;
 * Management of the world's largest bank of banana germplasm: ‘Musa Germplasm Transit Centre’, based in the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium);
 * Collaboration with NASA on SERVIR-Amazonia – a satellite imaging platform to inform decision making for protection of the Amazon basin;
 * Establishment of Agua de Honduras – a data-led online platform to inform water management, that has subsequently been adopted by the Honduran government as its primary decision-making tool for water resources, with incoming investments for its replication in countries across the world;
 * Launch of Lao PDR’s first ever cassava stem multiplication center - Asia’s first tunnel-based rapid multiplication system - to combat the spread of pests and diseases in cassava, protecting the regional cassava industry;
 * Co-establishment of the Common Microbial Biotechnology Platform in Vietnam: a network of research organizations and private institutions across Asia, the Pacific and Europe focusing on soil biodiversity;
 * Development of agro-climatic bulletins in Vietnam, disseminating climate and crop predictions for farmers to protect crop production from the region’s climate risks; and,
 * Collaboration with APFORGEN network, carrying out forest restoration and safeguarding tree diversity across Asia.

Governance
The Alliance’s Director General is Juan Lucas Restrepo, supported by Marcela Quintero as Associate Director General for Research Strategy, and Innovation, and Julia Marton-Lefèvre as Chair of the Board of Trustees. The Alliance’s full governance team – including the members of the Board of Trustees and the Audit, Finance, and Risk Committee - can be seen here.

History
The history of the Alliance begins with the establishment and evolution of the two research entities that form the Alliance: Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). First, CIAT was established in Palmira, Colombia in 1967 as ‘El Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical’, and Bioversity International was established in 1973 in Rome, Italy under the name of the ‘International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR)’. In 1991, IBPGR was renamed ‘the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), and finally, renamed Bioversity International in 2006. Both centers worked within the CGIAR network, and in 2019, the two centers joined forces to become the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, working as one to “deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives".

Relevant Links

 * Official Website: The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
 * Strategy 2020-2025: A Unified Strategy to Solve Global Crises, Turning Food Systems Around
 * The History of the Alliance
 * Interactive Timeline
 * Offices
 * Governance
 * Food Environment and Consumer Behavior
 * Multifunctional Landscapes
 * Climate Action
 * Agrobiodiversity
 * Digital Inclusion
 * Crops for Nutrition and Health
 * Gender, Youth and Inclusion
 * Publications and Data
 * Tools and Innovations


 * CGIAR