GPA Priority Activities

 

In Situ Conservation and Development

1. Surveying and inventorying plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

2. Supporting on-farm management and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

3. Assisting farmers in disaster situations to restore agricultural systems

4. Promoting in situ conservation of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production

 

 

1. Surveying and inventorying plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

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14. Assessment: Rational conservation (both in situ and ex situ) ideally begins with the surveying and inventorying of existing resources. In order to elaborate policies and strategies for the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, national programmes need to know what resources exist in their countries. Countries that have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity have acknowledged

certain needs and responsibilities concerning this subject. Country Reports indicate that little systematic work has been done in this regard for many crops and their wild relatives.

 

15. Long-term objectives: To identify, locate, inventory, and as feasible assess any threats to those species, ecotypes, cultivars and populations of plants relevant to food and agriculture, especially those that are of anticipated use.

 

16. To facilitate the development of complementary conservation strategies (e.g.,weighing the need and importance of collecting for ex situ conservation and/or continued conservation in situ) and national policies related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

 

17. Intermediate objectives: To develop useful methodologies for surveying and inventorying plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

 

18. Policy/strategy: The surveying and inventorying of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture should be considered as a step in the process of conservation and of reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity. Without the capacity to conserve and/or use, however, such work may have marginal utility. Thus, surveying and inventorying should ideally be linked to specific objectives and a plan, such as one for in situ conservation, or collecting, ex situconservation, and use.

 

19. Local and indigenous knowledge should be recognized as important components of surveying and inventorying activities and should be properly considered in all such efforts.

 

20. Capacity: Countries should provide and may need financial and technical support to survey andinventory plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

 

21. Countries should provide and may need assistance in having appropriate access to existing and planned Geographic Information System facilities and information.

 

22. Training and capacity-building should be undertaken in areas such as taxonomy, population biology, ethnobotany, and eco-regional and agro-ecological surveying.

 

23. Research/technology:Adequate support should be given to developing better methodologies for the surveying and assessment of intra- and infra-specific diversity in agroecological systems.

 

24. Existing information sources should be used in research to determine to what extent wild relatives of domesticated species are already in protected areas.

 

25. Coordination/administration: Most coordination must take place within country. Regional and global level coordination is needed to provide linkages with existing ex situ and in situ conservation efforts.

 

26. Strong linkages need to be established with national, regional and crop networks and with the users of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (breeders and farmers) in order to inform, direct and prioritize the entire conservation process. Countries should collaborate in surveying and inventorying activities in order to build in-country capacity.

 

27. Coordination between relevant international organizations, inter alia, FAO, UNEP, UNESCO, IUCN and international agricultural research centres, should be further strengthened.

 

28. This activity is closely linked with:

 

2. Supporting on-farm management and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

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29. Assessment: Modern plant breeding has been remarkably successful in helping raise yields, and to improve resistance to pests and diseases and quality of food products, especially in favorable environments. Farmers choose to grow new cultivars for many reasons including market conditions, family food security and environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, these choices often result in significant on-farm genetic erosion. Still, in some countries, the overwhelming majority of farmers, as a matter of choice or necessity, engage in de facto conservation and development of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture as they select and save seed for the next planting season. These farmers typically practice low-input farming. Such farmers often lack access to new and diverse genetic materials which could be integrated into existing crops to improve production.

Historically, farmer access to a broad range of germplasm in developed countries has contributed to yield increases and greater crop adaptability through farmer selection. It has also led in many cases to the rise of local seed enterprises.

 

30. Without appropriate and creative approaches, prospects of markedly increasing the productivity of low-potential and low-input farms through genetic improvements alone also would appear limited. Yet, increased productivity is important for food security and to reduce pressure on fragile environments. Neither the private sector nor public agricultural research institutions presently have the capacity of serving this large, economically

disadvantaged population completely. Many governments are seeking to realize farmers’ rights through national legislation, as appropriate.

 

31. Initiatives focusing on participatory, on-farm management and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture may offer the potential to reach large numbers of farmers and promote further agricultural development. It would, of necessity, depend on farmers themselves and their decisions and build upon and make use of their on-going efforts to improve their crops through mass selection and other breeding efforts. And it would necessarily recognize the central role that rural women play in agricultural production in most developing countries. Efforts to provide farmers greater access to appropriate genetic resources and training could assist farmers in improving various characteristics of their planting materials (such as disease or pest resistance), and in increasing food production. A number of governments, research institutes, and NGOs are now engaged in projects researching and promoting on-farm management and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Significant technical and methodological questions remain. The capacity of these projects is limited, however, and the numbers of farmers they are reaching is relatively small. Thus, it would appear the full potential of on-farm improvement may not yet be realized.

 

32. Long-term objectives: To better understand and improve the effectiveness of existing on-farm conservation, management, improvement, and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. To achieve a better balance between ex situ and in situ conservation. To realize Farmers’ Rights as defined in FAO Resolution 5/89 at the international, regional, and national levels. To promote the equitable sharing of benefits

from plant genetic resources for food and agriculture as called for in the Convention on Biological Diversity. To foster the future emergence of public or private seed companies and cooperative enterprises as an outgrowth of successful on-farm selection and breeding. To encourage traditional seed exchange and supply systems.

 

33. Intermediate objectives: To gain greater knowledge about the dynamics, methodologies, effects, and potential of on-farm conservation and plant improvement. To establish or strengthen programmes and networks for on-farm management of farmer’s varieties, wild relatives of food crops, harvested food plants and rangeland genetic resources. To extend the role of national, regional and international genebanks to include support for and provision of materials to on-farm improvement programmes. To build on-farm and garden programmes based on local systems of knowledge, institutions, and management, ensuring local participation in planning, management and evaluation. To focus greater public and scientific attention on the diverse roles that women play in

production and resource management in rural households.

 

34. Policy/strategy: On-farm activities are a means to improve existing practices in selected communities. They are complementary to and not a substitute for more formal varietal development and seed supply systems. Institutional flexibility will be needed in working with farming communities. No single plan or recipe is possible or advisable. Working examples must be identified of conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture that support and maintain the social, economic and cultural values of local and indigenous

communities and improve the quality of life.

 

35. Governments should consider how production, economic incentive, and other policies, as well as agricultural extension and research services might facilitate and encourage on-farm management and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

 

36. Where appropriate, national research systems should consider strengthening local level capacity to participate in all stages of breeding, including on-farm selection and adaptation.

 

37. Governments, donor agencies, international agricultural research centres, NGOs, and others should incorporate gender and socio-cultural factors into the design and implementation of agricultural research and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture activities.

 

38. Capacity: Adequate support should be given to community-based institutions and user groups engaged in providing practical assistance to on-farm conservation and improvement work.

 

39. Considering the needs of and numbers of the farmers served, genebanks and national/international institutes should consider identifying appropriate landraces/farmers’ varieties for multiplication and/or developing new breeding populations incorporating specific characteristics into locally adapted materials for on-farm improvement activities. Step-by-step incorporation and improvement should be encouraged rather than the hasty

replacement of existing on-farm diversity. As a general practice, quantities of seed and planting materials distributed should encourage research and experimentation by farmers, and not be so large as to displace normal seed supply sources or on-farm seed management.

 

40. Interdisciplinary training programmes should be developed for extension workers, NGOs and others in facilitating and catalyzing on-farm activities, including selection and breeding techniques appropriate to supplement and improve those already used by farmers.

 

41. The focus of training programmes should be to help farmers better incorporate new knowledge and technologies and indeed become better technicians, and researchers become better enablers and supporters of farmers. Training should be aimed at four different groups: scientists, technical support staff, extension agents (including NGOs), and farmers. Support for advanced degree work should include relevant work in the biological and social sciences. Training of extension agents should aim to increase their skills in crop identification, selection and breeding, and seed maintenance in order to provide the important bridge between

national agricultural research staff and farmers.

 

42. Training of (and by) farmers should emphasize enhancing the identification of plant traits, selection/breeding, utilization and maintenance of local crops. It is important to develop farmers’ skills in selection of plants in the vegetative state and not only after harvest.

 

43. Training programmes should be designed in close collaboration with NARS and farmers and their organizations and be based on particular needs as they see them. Such programmes should not neglect the central role that women play in both influencing and directing the evolution of crops. Programmes should consider the different uses of biological resources by women and men, including women’s concern for the multiple uses and processing requirements of crops.

 

44. Research/technology: Four basic types of rigorous, multi-disciplinary scientific research are needed:

(a) ethnobotanical and socio-economic research to understand and analyze farmer knowledge, selection/breeding, utilization, and management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, consistent with the approval of the farmers involved and with applicable requirements for protection of their knowledge and technologies;

(b) population and conservation biology to understand the structure and dynamics of genetic diversity in local landraces/farmers’ varieties (including population differentiation, gene flow, degree of inbreeding, and selective pressures);

(c) crop improvement research, including research in mass selection and simple breeding as a means of increasing crop yields and reliability without significant losses of local biodiversity.

(d) research and extension studies for little known crops will be promoted, including seed production, marketing and distribution.

 

45. Scientific research should, when possible, be coupled with on-farm activities in order that the context and purpose of the work are fully appreciated. Research should assist in the monitoring, evaluation, and improvement of on-farm efforts. Research should be undertaken in a participatory and collaborative manner to foster interaction and cooperation between rural people and the staff of national institutions. Other institutions

must be involved appropriately whenever necessary.

 

46. Methods should be developed and assistance provided for recording and linking in situ farm and garden management and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture with national and regional genebanks and research institutes.

 

47. Coordination/administration: National and international coordination efforts in this area should allow for and encourage local, community-level initiatives in proposing programmes. Small, grass-roots projects should receive priority in funding and support services. Priority should be placed on farmers with a technical project promoting the maintenance of pre-existing diversity and to collaboration between communities and

research institutions. Subject to satisfactory progress, programmes should be sufficiently long (10 years or more) to achieve results.

 

48. Efforts should be coordinated closely with NARS, international agricultural research centres, including IPGRI and with NGOs and farmers organizations. Collaborative programmes with other agencies, including UNDP, UNEP, IFAD, and the World Bank, should be undertaken, as feasible.

 

49. This activity is closely linked with:

 

3. Assisting farmers in disaster situations to restore agricultural systems

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50. Assessment: In the modern world and especially in developing countries, people are threatened with and vulnerable to natural disasters, civil strife and war. Such calamities pose huge challenges to the resilience of agricultural systems. Often, adapted crop varieties are lost and cannot be recuperated locally. Food aid, combined with the importation of often poorly adapted seed varieties, can lower yields and keep them low for

years. While addressing the immediate crisis, such practices can exacerbate hunger conditions, undermine food security and increase costs of donor assistance well into the future. Indigenous landraces/farmers’ varieties lost during calamities can frequently be found in ex situ collections outside the effected country. Properly multiplied, such stocks can be returned to reconstitute locally adapted planting material, an essential component of

sustainable agricultural systems. Partnerships are important in such efforts and can include government and non-governmental organizations.

 

51. Long-term objectives: To support farmers’ and rural peoples’ livelihoods and sustainable agriculture options through the rehabilitation of agricultural systems based on locally adapted plant genetic resources, including the restoration of pre-existing germplasm in cases of disaster-induced loss of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

 

52. Intermediate objectives: To establish capacity to deliver seed of adapted local varieties as needed to help re-establish indigenous agricultural systems in areas affected by natural disasters, war, and civil strife.

 

53. To establish institutional responsibilities and mechanisms for the identification, acquisition, multiplication, and re-introduction of appropriate genetic materials.

 

54. Policy/strategy: Governments with the co-operation of relevant farmers’organizations and communities and UN bodies and regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations should establish necessary policies at all levels which will allow unhindered implementation of seed security activities in response to calamities.

 

55. To minimize genetic loss, governments should ensure duplication of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture outside of the country, such as in genebanks of neighboring countries, and/or regional or international genebanks and crop genebank networks. Where such ex situ collections do not exist outside the affected country, support should be given to undertake emergency collections of local varieties as soon as possible

within the country, so that they may be multiplied for immediate use and also may be conserved in national and international ex situ collections for future use.

 

56. Capacity: FAO should establish agreements with appropriate agencies, especially national and international agricultural research institutions, for rapid acquisition and multiplication, restoration and provision of materials to countries in need. Such institutes should endeavour to ensure that their capacity is sufficient for the task. Cooperation with non-governmental and private organizations can be an important component of efforts to

distribute suitably adapted germplasm into regions that are recovering from disasters.

 

57. Adequate information systems must be established to identify and track appropriate germplasm for reintroduction.

 

58. Governments should consider making available adequate funds to set in motion the multiplication of seed and to initiate other related activities in response to emergencies, after approaching existing international emergency funds to determine if they could effectively plan ahead to cover action related to the restoration of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture after disaster situations.

 

59. Governments should strengthen farmers’ abilities to cope with disasters by supporting the re-emergence of local seed supply networks.

 

60. Research/technology: Previous experience should be reviewed and options developed to enhance preparedness for rescue of ex situ collections and emergency seed collecting in the context of calamities, including war, civil strife, industrial accidents, and natural disasters. These efforts could benefit from close collaboration among governments of countries affected, donor governments, non-governmental and private organizations, the national, regional and international agricultural research centres, regional plant genetic

resource networks as well as relevant inter-governmental agencies such as FAO, WFP, UNHCR and UNDRO.

 

61. Coordination/administration: This programme should be coordinated administratively by FAO in close collaboration with WFP, UNHCR, UNDRO, IPGRI, national and the international agricultural research centres, regional plant genetic resources networks, governments of the countries affected, donor countries and NGOs.

 

62. Public awareness efforts are needed to sensitize the donor community and NGOs to the importance of adapted plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in relief and rehabilitation efforts and to inform them of this programme. Such efforts should also increase awareness of the need for safety duplication of materials in other countries.

 

63. This activity is closely linked with:

 

4. Promoting in situ conservation of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production

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64. Assessment: Natural ecosystems hold important plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, including endemic and threatened wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production. Many are not managed sustainably. This genetic diversity, because of interactions which generate new biodiversity, is potentially an economically important component of natural ecosystems and cannot be maintained ex situ. Unique and

particularly diverse populations of these genetic resources must be protected in situ when they are under threat. Most of the world’s 8500 national parks and other protected areas, however, were established with little specific concern for the conservation of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production. Management plans for protected and other areas are not usually broad enough to conserve genetic diversity for these species to

complement other conservation approaches.

 

65. Many protected areas are under threat of degradation and destruction. Moreover, they cannot now provide comprehensive geographical and biological coverage of the diversity of many species. It is thus necessary to complement the conservation in protected areas with measures aimed at conserving genetic diversity which lies outside such areas. In situ conservation implies comprehensive planning in which protection, production and

genetic conservation aspects are considered and made complementary.

 

66. Long-term objectives: To promote conservation of genetic resources of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production in protected areas and on other lands not explicitly listed as protected areas.

 

67. Intermediate objectives: To initiate planning and management practices which take into account wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production. To clearly identify which wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production need to be protected in situ. To gain knowledge of the uses, in particular by women, of wild plants for food production as sources of income and food.

 

68. To create a better understanding of the contributions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to local economies, food security, and environmental health. To improve management and planning and promote complementarity between conservation and sustainable use in parks and protected areas by inter alia broadening the participation of local communities in these processes.

 

69. To establish better communication and coordination between various institutes and organizations engaged in in situ conservation and land use management, nationally and regionally. To conserve genetic diversity for these species to complement other conservation approaches.

 

70. Policy/strategy: Governments, subject to national legislation, with the cooperation of the relevant UN bodies and regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and taking into account the views of farmers and communities living near protected areas should:

(a) include as appropriate, among the purposes and priorities of national parks and protected areas, the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, including appropriate forage species, wild relatives of crop plants and species gathered wild for food;

(b) consider integrating conservation and management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in national land use plans;

(c) support the establishment of national and local objectives for protected area management through broad based participation, involving in particular, where they are present, groups most dependent on wild plants for food production;

(d) support the creation of advisory panels at the appropriate levels, that where appropriate, involve farmers, indigenous communities, plant genetic resources scientists, local government officials, and community leaders, to guide management of protected areas, according to national rules and regulations;

(e) recognize the rights of indigenous communities to PGRFA in protected areas;

(f) recognize that women are a valuable source of information on the feasibility of in situ conservation and management practices;

(g) support indigenous and local communities efforts to manage wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production in protected areas, or where existing aboriginal or treaty rights are recognized;

(h) review existing environmental impact statement requirement to incorporate an assessment of the likely effect of the proposed activity on local biodiversity for food and agriculture, particularly on wild crop relatives;

(i) integrate genetic conservation objectives in the sustainable management of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production in protected areas and other managed resource areas.

 

71. Governments with the cooperation of the relevant UN bodies and regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the farming, indigenous and local communities living in non-protected areas, should seek, where possible and appropriate, to:

(a) Establish conservation of wild crop-relatives and wild plants for food production as an integral component of land-use planning;

(b) Encourage local communities to conserve and manage wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production, and provide for their participation in decisions relating to such local conservation and management.

 

72. As appropriate and feasible, protected area policies should promote and sustain rather than restrict those human activities that maintain and enhance genetic diversity within and among plant species. Participatory approaches to protected and related area management should also be encouraged to reconcile the sometimes conflicting goals of conservation and local livelihood security.

 

73. Capacity: Governments should, whenever possible, and as appropriate:

(a) Develop a prioritized plan, particularly for those ecosystems in which high levels of diversity related to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are found, and conduct national reviews to identify those management practices needed to protect the desired level of genetic diversity for wild crop-relatives and wild plants for food production

(b) Assist local communities in their efforts to identify, catalogue and manage wild crop relatives and wild foods

(c) Monitor the holdings, the distribution and diversity of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production, integrate and link data and information from in situ conservation programmes with that of ex situ programmes and encourage private and non-governmental organizations to do likewise

 

74. Coordination/administration: Governments should, as appropriate:

(a) Link protected area planning and management with institutions responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of wild relatives of crop plants and wild plants for food production, such as centres for crop genetic resources, national crop genetic resources coordinators, and botanical gardens

(b) Designate focal points, as appropriate, to catalyze coordination of in situ protection programmes and liaise with other countries in the region

(c) Establish mechanisms for periodically reviewing and modifying conservation plans

 

75. This activity is closely linked with:

 

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