Safeguarding of agrobiodiversity is a strategic issue for the European Green Deal. Traditional plant varieties and animal breeds are useful for the enhancement of organic and low-impact agriculture, especially in mountain areas that are particularly rich in these resources. Therefore, alliances between institutions, universities, research centers and associations are fundamental to address this challenge, as well as to create new supply chains of traditional and innovative unique products. Capitalizing its experience in the research activity aimed at enriching the state of knowledge on agri-food resources to promote the sustainable development of mountain areas, UNIMONT centre took action to lead a Working Group on Agrobiodiversity within the Network for European Mountain Research (NEMOR) – of which it is a founding member – with the aim of supporting European mountain research from a transdisciplinary perspective.
The working group aims to exchange information at European level to list, describe, monitor, protect and promote traditional varieties and breeds and collect best practices to implement new market niches based on this heritage support.