2016-10-07

Draft conclusions from the Nordic CWR project & recommendations for future actions

2016-10-07

Østre Bolærne, Norway

(N59.2012, E10.5702)

What can we conclude?

- A higher level of understanding

- A higher degree of committment and determination

- A common Nordic taxon list (CWR inventory) of 2554 species and subspecies

- A draft priority list of 137 species and subspecies, based on

• economic value at global level of domesticated food or forage crops;

• GP 1-2, TG 1-2 & GP 3, and TG 3-4 with potential for plant breeding; and

• an estimated value, by breeders, of use

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Three major themes

1. National conservation planning and management

2. Regional conservation planning and management

3. Integration of ex situ and in situ conservation

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National conservation planning and implementation

1. Develop national strategies for CWR conservation and use in all Nordic

countries. The work done at the Nordic level can be used as a basis, or supporting information, for this work. The Nordic and national work should be linked to each other and also to European and global strategies.

2. Develop or, in the event of existing measures, strengthen the policy instruments needed to facilitate conservation and use of crop wild relatives. Suggested actions include evaluating policy actions that are needed for efficient implementation of conservation and use of crop wild relatives and/or analysing obstacles that hinder such effective conservation and use.

3. As a first step, implement in situ conservation in at least one site in each of the Nordic countries and agree upon the timing and process of when and how to evaluate best approaches for continued in situ conservation. The sites should be chosen to represent different types of habitats. The long-term aim should be to establish several such sites in each country.

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D R A F T R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

Regional conservation planning and implementation

4. Develop a common Nordic strategic action plan on CWR conservation and use based on the work performed in the current project. The aim would be to facilitate the national process and identify areas where joint planning and/or cooperation would be more effective and efficient than national efforts. The approach should link to both national and European strategies, and be in harmony with the recently adopted ECPGR concept.

5. Encourage/initiate research, aiming at ensuring high efficiency and quality in conservation planning and implementation.

6. Develop a roadmap/manual for easy access to genetic resources conserved in situ in the Nordic countries (including assembling data on legislation, access procedures, contact info, decision trees, etc.).

7. Consider broadening the Nordic PPP project on pre-breeding by increasing the number of, or exchanging, current target crops and encourage the use of CWRs. Any such changes would, however, need full support from the breeders’ community.

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D R A F T R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

Recommended next steps with regards to CWR conservation planning on the Nordic level include: • applying current climate change models in selecting suitable Nordic sites for in situ

conservation of CWRs; • conducting on site inventories to confirm presence of specific species in regions

suggested for in situ conservation; • reviewing the division of responsibility between NordGen and national stakeholders

(defined in the clarification document, started already 2016); • maintaining a Nordic homepage with information on CWR conservation, such as

Nordic principles and approaches on CWR conservation, links to the Nordic National sites on this topic, links to tools for developing national strategies (the first version of this page developed in the current project), and

• developing recommendations for in situ conservation of CWRs in agricultural and ruderal environments.

Suggestions include: 1. Expanding the existing approaches and tools aimed at facilitating conservation

planning and implementation. The end result could be a toolbox specifically adapted to Nordic use.

2. Monitoring changes in genetic diversity over time in a few key CWR species. The aim would be to learn about the short-term consequences of implementing specific management strategies and to develop tools for monitoring of CWR species in established in situ conservation areas. Use of these tools for long-term monitoring to evaluate the effect of specific conservation management and of climate change within a genetic reserve.

3. Conducting inventories of CWR species across the Nordic region with the aim to 1) be able to make informed decisions of best locations for in situ conservation and 2) track the effect of climate change on the geographic distribution of CWR species.

4. Conducting in depth studies in a few key CWR species (representing different types of distribution, dispersal, reproduction, habitats, etc.) to study the geographic distribu-tion of genetic diversity in natural populations in the Nordic region. Of most interest is diversity in traits that are relevant for current and future breeding. The aim would be to better understand the distribution of relevant genetic diversity and use this to optimise the conservation approach.

5. Evaluating key CWR species (selected for their current use in Nordic breeding) for traits selected by the potential users of the material. The aim would be to facilitate use by increasing the knowledge on traits relevant for breeding (or other use).

Integration of ex situ and in situ conservation

8. Develop Nordic networking and integration of in situ and ex situ conservation in an efficient way. Explore and establish a framework for formal cooperation between stakeholders working with in situ (nature conservation and agricultural/ ruderal habitats) and ex situ conservation. The network created during the current project should be used as a basis and be linked to European networks.

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D R A F T R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

A challenge, and a ’must’

For maximum effect: send a ’condensed’ message to NMR

2016-10-07

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2016-10-07

Thank you!