Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin, co-founder of Global Crop Diversity Trust, states that swift action is needed to ensure future food security in the Middle East where demand for food is expected to soar by 50 percent over the next two decades, driven by the region’s forecasted 40% increase in population between 2010 and 2030. Dr. Hawtin is lobbying for the conservation of the region’s traditional crops such as wheat, barley, chickpeas, and lentils that have evolved over the millennia from their wild ancestors to survive in some the world’s most challenging conditions. With less available land and water, and harsher weather conditions, the Gulf region, as well as the rest of the world, will have to feed more people with less resources, and crop diversity will be a key factor. At the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas gene bank in Syria, there are 135,000 varieties of crops being conserved from 110 countries – a resource which Dr. Hawtin states is ‘invaluable for the region’s food security’.
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