Australian aid's plans to revive global coconut conservation
Hugh Harries
CANBERRA — Australia’s aid program has taken a keen interest in advancing the protection of global coconut supplies, with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade bringing together coconut conservation and use experts to revive COGENT — the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network.
COGENT is mandated to help protect global coconut diversity, with Biodiversity International currently hosting the network from its base in France. The past five years have seen funding for the network dwindle, at a time when crops are increasingly under threat from the impacts of climate change, despite global demand being at a high.
Annual global output of coconuts is estimated at around 67 million tons of copra, coir, water, and oil. Its gross value is estimated between $50 and $100 billion annually, according to COGENT coordinator Vincent Johnson. And coconut water is in growing demand for consumers, with PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Vita Coco among the leading vendors in this space.Linked to this is the question of livelihood and food security. Coconut production, Johnson said, plays a role in the economic security of more than 10 million farmers, most of whom are smallholders. And more than 80 percent are within the Asia-Pacific region.
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This information was published by Devex