Cryopreservation offers a promising alternative for conserving coconut genetic diversity. Pictured are Cocos nucifera samples stored at the facility in Narere.

A new era for Pacific science and food security has begun with the opening of the Cryopreservation Laboratory at the Pacific Community’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees in Narere. The laboratory marks a historic step in safeguarding the region’s most treasured crops and ensuring the food, culture and livelihoods of generations to come.

Built with support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Pacific Community, the laboratory is the first of its kind in the Pacific. It will safeguard the region’s most important crops through long-term cryogenic storage.

For generations, crops such as taro, yam, breadfruit, cassava and coconut have been at the heart of Pacific life. Now, science and tradition have come together to protect that legacy for decades to come.

Outgoing Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Community, Dr Paula Vivili

Outgoing Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Community, Dr Paula Vivili, reflected on the laboratory’s journey and its significance for the region.

“Today is a demonstration of our responsibility in action. The growth of the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees is a regional success story. The journey began in 1998 at the Pacific Community’s Narere campus with a small laboratory supporting around 200 to 400 accessions. Even that modest start reflected our bold regional ambition to secure the crops that feed and define our Pacific people.”

He emphasised the laboratory’s wider impact.

“Cryopreservation secures our most important crops permanently, reduces costs over time and enables faster recovery when disaster strikes. It also strengthens compliance with international standards and safeguards high-value crops with normal and long-term conservation options.”

(L-R) New Zealand High Commissioner Charlotte Darlow,Sharon Alder from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Alitia Bainivalu, Outgoing Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Community and Dr Paula Vivili

Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Alitia Bainivalu, officially opened the laboratory and highlighted its importance for the Pacific.

“This lab symbolizes our collective commitment, Pacific countries working together with our development partners to safeguard the biodiversity that sustains our cultures, our economies and our future. It is a facility built to serve our Pacific people today and for generations to come, while also contributing to global food and nutrition security.”

New Zealand High Commissioner Charlotte Darlow praised the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees as a hub of scientific excellence.

“It is a centre of Pacific excellence in science and technology. It is a place where Pacific solutions, rooted in Pacific context with Pacific scientists, are creating what becomes the future of science not just for the region but for the world.”

She reflected on the laboratory’s global impact.

“The work that you do here has impacted so much wider than just the region that you serve so proudly. It really does have a planetary impact. In this corner of Suva is a facility that can help safeguard genetic resources using the most modern scientific techniques.”

Sharon Alder from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade emphasised the power of partnerships.

“The establishment of the Pacific Community’s first cryopreservation laboratory is a testament to what research partnerships and shared purpose can achieve for the Pacific and for our collective food security. Conserving Pacific agro biodiversity is critically important not only for communities across the Pacific but also for the world.”

Logotonu Waqanibete, Programme Lead for the Pacific Community’s Genetic Resources Programme giving a tour of the laboratory. 

Logotonu Waqanibete, Programme Lead for the Pacific Community’s Genetic Resources Programme, explained the laboratory’s long-term benefits.

“This is long-term, you can store varieties here for 20, 50 years. That allows us to free up some of the resources that we use to conserve them in other means, and direct that energy to other equally important areas like distribution. We are not a museum. We never want to be a museum. Our principle is always conservation for use.”

The Cryopreservation Laboratory complements CePaCT’s existing in-vitro, seed and field collections, expanding conservation capacity to nearly 30,000 accessions and, with a combined investment of FJD 1.26 million, ensures that the Pacific Community can safeguard the crops, culture and identity of the region for generations to come.

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