IPGRI has a long history of activities in Europe, starting in 1974 when the Mediterranean was identified as an area for priority attention. The early emphasis of the Mediterranean programme was on exploration and collection of crops most threatened by genetic erosion, with particular emphasis on food legumes, cereals and vegetables.

IPGRI's focus in the region is on the promotion and development of national and regional strategies for plant genetic resources conservation and use. The Regional office for Europe provides advice to countries needing help in establishing and managing national genetic resources programmes. This includes providing detailed studies on the structure of existing national programmes and recommendations for their improvement.

Most of the direct work with Europe's national programmes is concentrated within IPGRI's Regional Office for Europe, based in Rome, Italy. This Office is responsible for collaboration with all countries of geographic Europe including Israel, and extending as far east as the Russian Federation and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

Another key dimension of IPGRI's European strategy is to promote training and the transfer of technology between European institutions and national programmes in developing countries.

IPGRI through its Europe Group provides the international coordinating secretariat for the European Cooperative Programme on Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR) and the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)

Participation of east European countries in the EU-funded projects, actively supported by the ECP/GR and EUFORGEN programmes, contributed to ensuring the continuity of national systems in the countries concerned. They include genetic diversity studies, surveying, collecting, characterization and evaluation of genetic resources, documentation and information.

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