European
Workshop on National Plant Genetic Resources Programmes - April 2003
|
BACKGROUND Different countries in Europe involved in building National Programmes often face similar challenges. To support National Programmes, and to inspire ideas and solutions for the tasks ahead, it is proposed that representatives of various stakeholders from the different countries meet and openly discuss issues of common interest and make recommendations to guide their work in future years. Responsibility
for the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
(PGRFA) in European countries lies mainly with national gene banks, associated
with other public-sector institutions and cooperating with many partners such as
non-governmental organizations, universities, extension services and the private
sector. Together these stakeholders make up what is described as National Plant
Genetic Resources Programmes. Coordination
activities for specific crops, or groups of crops, have typically been
established because of the need to link conservation with the user community of
these crops. The gene bank community has frequently driven the establishment of
the broader national genetic resources systems, which in many countries also
incorporate animal, forest and microbial genetic resources. The Workshop will
focus on the design and implementation of those elements of national systems
that concern PGRFA. National Plant Genetic Resources Programmes are widely
considered to be the one and only platform for implementation of relevant international
agreements, mainly the Global Plan of Action on the Conservation and Sustainable
Utilization of PGRFA, the International Treaty on PGRFA and the relevant
objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. In
fact, the Global Plan of Action identified and recommended a number of actions,
among which building strong National Plant Genetic Resources Programmes is a
cornerstone. A first review of the progress in developing National Programmes in
this area was made at the European Symposium “Implementation of the Global
Plan of Action – conservation and sustainable utilization of PGRFA”, which
took place in 1998, in Braunschweig, Germany. At this occasion it was held in
conjunction with the Steering Committee meeting of the European Cooperative
Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR). The Workshop will take
place almost five years after the Braunschweig Symposium. It will aim at
providing an input to the ECP/GR Steering Committee meeting, which will be held
several months later, in October 2003. For additional information, please contact the Organizing Committee |
Copyright © International Plant Genetic Resources Institute 2000-
. All rights reserved. Legal notices
