All countries of the region have established working relations with CGIAR Centers. Among the CG centers, ICARDA has had the longest history in the region. 

With its genetic resources activities of its mandate crops (wheat, barley, lentils, chickpea, faba bean, and pasture and forage crops), approximately 66% of ICARDA’s germplasm material originates in the region (some 73,000 acc.).ICARDA is one of the partners and founding members of WANANET. IPGRI CWANA and ICARDA, in partnership, carry out training activities and a large number of scientists in the region have been trained in the field of genetic resources conservation and use through this joint venture. ICARDA is an active partner in transferring PGR technologies to national programs. 

Five CGIAR centers (CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICRISAT and IRRI) have sub-regional offices in the region and carry out activities on plant genetic resources on their respective mandated crops. Of those, ICRISAT has extensive activities in the region on its mandate crops.

FAO has technical cooperation projects in the region in relation to plant genetic resources, including forestry. UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program) is present with a global program on biodiversity and genetic resources and has mobilized funds across CWANA, through GEF (Global Environmental Facility), to support the development of biodiversity country strategies along with a number of major in situ conservation projects, such as the one in Turkey he UNDP (United National Development Program) regional office for the Near East has approved an importantregional collaborative project in 1998 on agrobiodiversity in situ conservation, involving Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and which was coordinated by ICARDA, with technical back stopping by IPGRI and ACSAD (Arab Center for the Studies in Arid Zones Dry Areas, Syria) and supports through GEF a regional Date Palm project for the Maghreb Oases.

A regional network for rangeland seed information was established in the region, with two sub-regional nodes, one in Jordan to serve the Mashreq countries (Iraq, Jordan and Syria) and one in Morocco to serve the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). The network’s objectives are to document information on range-land seed plants in the region; promote the exchange of information, genetic materials and experience on distribution, availability and ecotypes of pastures plants; and strengthen national research programs and the production of pasture seed. Training courses on information handling and computer use, and practical applications for rangelands plants have been organized. Similar efforts are being planned for Central Asian countries.

ACSAD is a regional institution attached to the Arab League and working on the management of natural resources in the dry areas of the Arab region.  ACSAD’s activities on PGR deal mainly with fruit trees (almond, olive, pistachio, fig and grapes). Field germplasm collections of some of the local clones and cultivars of these fruit trees are maintained in Syria. The main purpose of these collections is to provide plant material to distribute to Arab countries according to demands.

The Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) of the Arab League, is an agricultural development agency with a strategic applied research, coordination and food policy role in such areas as the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, within a biodiversity context. The AOAD has developed the Arab League’s food security policy position which has a direct relevance to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. AOAD has also been requested by the Arab League to participate in the work program of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) so as to ensure complementarities within the conservation work undertaken by the environmental sector. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) which aims at fostering collaboration between member countries is taking steps, jointly with IPGRI and ICARDA, to assist member countries from Central Asia in the establishment of efficient plant genetic resources conservation and use programs.

The Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), is another important organization based in Egypt, involved with the use of PGR to address environmental conservation and ecosystem rehabilitation. CEDARE’s main mission is capacity building, particularly in the area of environmental management, environmental education and development of environmental policies. The organization acts as an "enabling" agent in support of sustainable development initiatives at national, sub-regional and regional levels, stimulating the implementation of international conventions and agreements in the region and facilitating inter-country cooperation and exchange of information and experience

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National Programs Introduction

Except for Turkey, plant genetic resources activities are not yet fully organized in an integrated national program in the countries of the region. The PGR activities are mainly implemented through breeding and selection programs within Research Institutes and Universities and also the Departments of Forestry and Livestock within the Ministry of Agriculture. Because of lack of national policy and special budget, plant genetic resources are not receiving enough support. Moreover, there is often no coordination among different institutions at the national level.

Few countries from CWANA, such as Turkey, Iran and Pakistan have developed special laws for the protection of plant genetic resources. All countries protect the flora through legislation on forests. All countries in the region have phytosanitary, quarantine and seed certification for controlling plant materials importation and exportation. However, most of the countries have yet to establish intellectual property rights and few have initiated PGR's and socio genesis systems such as UPOV (e.g. Egypt, Jordan and Morocco). Although a few private companies are beginning to be involved in plant breeding and biotechnology, generally the private sector is still absent from the plant genetic resources conservation in the region.  All national programs need human resources development and institutional build up to achieve sustainable development goals. 

Most countries of the region are involved in international cooperation for the conservation of plant genetic resources. They have signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio, Brazil - 1992), the Convention on the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, France - 1972), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Washington, USA), the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance -Ramsar (Tehran, Iran -1971) and the International Plant Protection Convention (Rome, Italy -1951). In 2002-03, a number of countries in CWANA signed and endorsed the FAO-ITPGRFA (2001).

Despite the presence of several Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) dealing with biodiversity conservation in most countries of the region, their activities are still limited to wildlife conservation and not yet sufficiently involved in plant genetic resources conservation.    

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