Community biodiversity management. An analysis of Community Seed Banks in Europe.

Increasing agrobiodiversity is a necessary condition for sustainability of food systems, in terms of resilience of agroecosystems and proper diet. Hand in hand with the development of a multi-actor and multi- dimensional approach to agrobiodiversity management, there has been an evolution of the ways to address it, when conceiving, analysing, promoting, running and supporting these processes. This has led to look at agrobiodiversity management as a dynamic process, centred on the role of farmers and communities (community biodiversity management). This perspective introduces new opportunities in terms of farmer empowerment and strengthening of local food systems. Within this new paradigm a key role can be played by Community Seed Banks (CSBs), as intermediate actors between ex situ and on farm systems, facilitating access to plant genetic resources by farmers and promoting innovation processes at local level, through participatory and decentralised plant breeding. The EU research project DIVERSIFOOD has been working on multi-actor and participatory approaches to agrobiodiversity dynamic management since 2015, focussing also on the role of CSBs in Europe and the dynamics underlying their development. This paper investigates these dynamics, analysing the processes through which these initiatives are set up by local multi-actor networks, how they function and the challenges they have to face. CSBs represent potential alternative systems to the management of seeds/varieties, but need to be recognised and supported in their role. The paper draws on the empirical material provided by a survey of 84 initiatives and on the results of two workshops with representatives of the initiatives.