Tanzania, with many mountain ranges, has outstanding biodiversity due to diverse ecosystems. It is one of 14 biodiversity hotspot countries in the world. The majority of Tanzanian men and women depend directly on natural resources, biodiversity, and knowledge and experience of how to ensure their family's food security. Women and local communities have possessed specialized knowledge and skills relating to selection and conservation of genetic resources and biodiversity for centuries. However, this knowledge is being eroded by modernization, underestimation, and lack of awareness. The FAO LinKS project (Gender, Biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems for Food Security), which started in 1998, has worked mainly in the agricultural sector, aiming to raise awareness of men's and women's knowledge about the use and management of the agro-biodiversity systems that they depend on for food security. The project has strengthened the capacity of agricultural institutions to apply approaches that recognize the knowledge of men and women farmers in their programs and policies, and has assisted in the creation of a Trust Fund to propagate local knowledge issues in the country.