Participants of the 2025 International Symposium on Crop Wild Relatives in Forests pose for a photo at the Sejong National Arboretum in Sejong City, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. (Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute) The Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute, under the state-run Korea Forest Service, hosted an academic conference this week in Sejong, South Chungcheong Province, focused on the conservation of crop wild relatives.
Crop wild relatives are the ancestral species of modern crops and are vital to global food security and agricultural biodiversity.
The three-day event, titled the 2025 International Symposium on Crop Wild Relatives in Forests, kicked off Wednesday and brought together approximately 100 renowned experts from around the world in the field of CWR.
Participating institutions included the European Genebank Managers Network, the University of Innsbruck, the Centre for Genetic Resources of the Netherlands, the United States Botanic Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden.
The main event on Thursday began with keynote speeches. Dr. Lise Steffensen, former president of the European Genebank Managers Network, emphasized the need for global cooperation to integrate in-situ and ex-situ conservation of CWRs to address climate change and food security challenges.
Devin Dotson, senior communications specialist at the United States Botanic Garden, highlighted the role of the 1,775 botanical gardens and arboreta worldwide in conserving CWRs through engagement with local communities.
At the symposium’s first session, Professor Ilse Kranner from the University of Innsbruck presented Europe’s CWR conservation efforts, sharing findings from the EU’s FP7 EcoSeed Project. She underscored how climate change–induced heat and drought stress affect seed viability and stressed the importance of structured project management and strict timelines in successful international collaborations.
Theo Van Hintum, head of the plant genetic resources division at the Centre for Genetic Resources in the Netherlands, warned that wild crops native to the Netherlands are increasingly threatened by climate change, calling for the creation of national inventories and greater awareness among local land managers.
Henrik Lutken, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, stressed the importance of practical conservation strategies, including managing endangered populations and adopting environmentally friendly biotechnologies as alternatives to chemical growth regulators.
During the second session, Colin Khoury, an affiliate scientist at the New York Botanical Garden, noted that active research is underway across the US to support the systematic global conservation of CWRs.
Na Chae-sun from the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum introduced Korea’s national CWR project, which runs from 2021 to 2026, aiming to strengthen food security in the face of climate challenges. The project includes compiling inventories of indigenous CWRs, seed collection and conservation, and analyzing stress tolerance to build a foundation for sustainable agriculture and future crop breeding.
Professor Kim Jae-yoon of Kongju National University emphasized the genetic potential of wild soybeans native to Korea, calling for expanded research into the valuable genetic resources of CWRs for future crop development.
Following the keynote speeches and presentations, a panel discussion was held on strategies for CWR conservation and international cooperation under the Horizon Europe initiative, chaired by Lee Seok-woo, director general of the business division at KoAGI.
“We will continue to strengthen collaboration with international experts and position ourselves as a leader in biodiversity conservation and utilization,” said Lee Gyu-myeong, director of the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum.
Sim Sang-taek, president of Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute and one of the symposium’s organizers, added, “CWR conservation and utilization within forest ecosystems are crucial to ensuring food security in the era of climate crisis.”
“We will step up efforts to establish Korea as a regional hub for forest-based CWR conservation in Asia,” he said.
spark@heraldcorp.com
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com