COUSIN WP2 partners Rete Semi Rurali and Università degli Studi di Catania (Italy), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Asociación Aprisco (Spain), Federal Office for Agriculture and University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) are leading the establishment of genetic reserves (GR) for crop wild relatives (CWRs) in their countries.

Since the COUSIN project kicked off, our URJC conservation team has been training WP2 partners in every aspect of the in situ conservation of CWRs: where to conserve, whom to involve, how to choose target CWR populations, which field work techniques to apply and how to develop a management plan. Thanks to our WP2 partners, we have visited all genetic reserves and met the local stakeholders involved. Because genetic reserves are not just about CWRs, they are about people too!

We have proudly supported their work in Favignana Island in Sicily, Italy (GR for Brassica macrocarpa (wild relative of broccoli) on public land), AUTH campus in Thessaloniki, Greece (multispecific GR for CWRs on campus), the Natural Park of Pfyn/Finges in Wallis, Switzerland (multispecific GR for threatened CWRs), APRISCO in Extremadura, Spain (multispecific GR for CWRs) and the Biosphere Reserve of Sierra del Rincón in Madrid, Spain (multispecific GR for forage/fodder CWRs on public land).