Global & European Strategies for Plant Conservation

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ESPC Target 9

70% of the genetic diversity of crops
and other major socio-economically valuable plants conserved,
and associated indigenous and local knowledge maintained

 

TARGET 9. CONSERVING PLANT GENETIC DIVERSITY

Information:

Conserving the genetic diversity of food crops and socio-economic is vital for long term food security in Europe and beyond. The GSPC estimate that 70% of the genetic diversity of a crop can be contained in a relatively small sample (generally less than 1,000 accessions). In Europe several organisations are coordinating activities at the regional level as well as many national organisations active in conserving genetic diversity. The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) coordinates a range of networks for specific crop groups and in situ/on farm conservation. The European Forest Genetics Resources Network coordinates activites on in situ and ex situ conservation of the forest genetic resources of Europe. The EURISCO database holds information on the national inventories of ex situ plant genetic resources. AEGRO is an EU funded project to conserve crop wild relatives and land races in situ. PGR Forum and the Crop Wild Relative Information Service provide base line data on crop wild relatives in Europe, including information on taxonomy, conservation status and action plans for certain species.

Targets: (for details of lead partners download pdf of ESPC)

 

European Projects/Databases/Organisations:

Organisation	Project/Database/Aims	Online DB
AEGIS	A European Genebank Integrated System – aims to conserve the genetically unique and important accessions for Europe and making them available for breeding and research (http://www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/AEGIS/AEGIS_home.htm)
AEGRO	An Integrated In Situ Management Work Plan: Implementing Genetic Reserves and On Farm Concepts – an EU funded programme to conserve genetic diversity of land races and crop wild relatives in situ (http://aegro.bafz.de/)
Bioversity International ( Europe)	Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) has a European office which works with ECPGR, EUFORGEN, the FAO, European Environment Agency, and the European Commission, and has a newsletter for Europe (http://www.bioversityinternational.org/scientific_information/regions/europe/overview/)
EC Agrinet Portal	The European Commission Agrinet Portal provides information on EU funded research into agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development. (http://ec.europa.eu/research/agriculture/index_en.html)
ECPGR	The European Cooperative Programme on Plant Genetic Resources aims to facilitate long term in situ and ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources. It coordinates a range of networks including cereals, forages, fruits, oil & protein, sugar starch & fiber, vegetables, and in situ/on farm. (http://www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/)
EUFORGEN	The European Forest Genetics Resources Network coordinates activities on in situ and ex situ conservation of the forest genetic resources of Europe. www.euforgen.org	yes
EURISCO	The EURISCO web catalogue receives data from national inventories and provides access to all ex situ plant genetic resources in Europe (http://eurisco.ecpgr.org/)	yes
FAO Regional Office for Europe	The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN has a regional office for Europe based in Hungary with sub regional offices for Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. It is involved in a range of activities including environmental and natural resources, and organic agriculture (http://www.fao.org/world/Regional/REU/)
PGR Forum & CWRIS	Crop Wild Relatives: PGR Forum and the Crop Wild Relative Information Service hold base line information on crop wild relatives in Europen including information on species of interest and species action plans for some species (http://www.pgrforum.org/)	yes

 

Link to case-studies/tool kits: (.pdf)

• PGR Forum – crop wild relative information service
• ECPGR – different specialist groups
• EUFORGEN
• AEGRO
• Conserving Crops in the Community – The Seed Heritage Library
• Orchard preservation society

International Projects

• Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) including the Crop Wild Relative Global Portal (http://www.bioversityinternational.org/)
• CGIAR – Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (http://www.cgiar.org/)
• FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (www.fao.org)
• International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (http://www.planttreaty.org/)
• Svalbard Global Seed Vault (http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220)
• The Global Crop Diversity Trust (http://www.croptrust.org/main/)

 

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