There are several remarkable biodiversity rich places in the world primarily known as the ‘Biodiversity Hotspots’. Literature suggests that these are prioritised areas which have high species endemism but extreme habitat loss and therefore, receive focused conservation attention. In a similar manner, there are several pockets of agrodiversity rich areas which have a high diversity of traditional crops and crop germplasm, but are threatened by rapid land use changes and policy driven agricultural transformation, and; hence in urgent need for conservation attention. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, such repositories of traditional agro-resources are paradoxically concentrated among the remote and marginalized communities residing in areas where the ingress of so called "Green Revolution" has not been effectively felt. These communities still manage (and hence conserve) the germplasm of traditional crop varieties for their sustenance, and hence, are de facto custodians of an agro-biodiversity that is critical for inter-generational and global food security. Through this innovation fund research, we attempted to garner some evidence to authenticate our argument on ‘Agrodiveristy Hotspots’. The long term goal is to subsequently develop a regional analysis for advocating the Hindu Kush Himalayan region as "Agrodiversity Hotspots", and draw attention of global communities to acknowledge and strengthen mountain communities’ knowledge and expertise for their management.

• published: 22 Sep 2014
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