Annual report 1997-1998

Biodiversity
Maintaining a Balance

IRRI's 1997-98 Corporate Report calls for safeguarding biodiversity

IRRI shares in the responsibility of safeguarding the biodiversity of rice landscapes as the foundation of the planet’s health and humanity’s food supply. This is clear from the theme of the Institute's 1997-98 Corporate Report, which is "Biodiversity: Maintaining the Balance."

IRRI underscores the need to maintain the balance of biodiversity because the permanency of the food base on which we depend, today and for generations to come, depends on caring for and wisely using the genetic diversity of rice and the natural resources of its landscape.

Cooperation in conserving, using, and sharing rice genetic resources and developing ways to make use of biodiversity for sustainable pest management can make enormous contributions to the well-being of humanity.

The Report describes how IRRI, through the International Rice Genebank, takes responsibility in conserving and sharing the wealth of rice genetic diversity, a priceless resource, as an insurance for food security in feeding today’s nearly three billion people and the expected 4.6 billion people in 2025, who rely on rice for their daily source of food.

Stories in the Report explain how advances in biotechnology steadily increase IRRI scientists’ abilities to use genes of wild rice to improve cultivated rice with a view to creating high-yielding rice plants capable of withstanding harsh environments and pests. At the same time, it expounds on the significant contributions of the 23-year-old International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice (INGER), a network composed of rice scientists from the national agricultural research systems of 95 rice-growing countries and from four international agricultural research centers in sharing, freely and safely, their improved rice varieties. In the sharing and receiving, members have benefited in increasing the diversity of their own improved varieties.

Also featured in the Report are 1) IRRI’s partnership with national agricultural research systems, farmers, and nongovernment organizations in various research programs, 2) cross-ecosystems research in which IRRI recently addressed a broad range of issues on research prioritization.

To read or download this year's Corporate Report, click here.

Full-sized posters of 1) the cover, a Chinese water color by Dr. Bao-Rong Lu, IRRI germplasm collector, and 2) the Geometry of  Rice are available at US$1.50/copy. Send an email to IRRI's publication office (irripub@cgiar.org), for more information about the posters.

back to top