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Global Plan of Action 116.
Assessment: Potential for loss and the opportunities
for use are the prime motivating forces behind most collecting.
The
materials currently being conserved do not represent the total
variation in plants. Global
needs for collecting are not, however, as high now as 20 years
ago due to progress made in the past two decades. CGIAR
centres report that major crops have generally been well collected
though gaps exist in some collections. Collecting
of certain regional, minor, and subsistence crops is much
less complete. However,
in the absence of comprehensive analysis of the genetic diversity
represented in the world's genebanks, these conclusions can
only be deemed tentative. 117.
Past collecting missions conducted with inadequate methodologies
may not have successfully sampled diversity. Conditions
in genebanks may also have led to the loss of collected materials,
leading to a need for recollection. In
some cases, collecting is needed to rescue materials under
imminent threat in situ. In
others, clear utilitarian needs - for disease or pest resistance
or other adaptive characteristics - make further collection
warranted. 118.
Longterm objectives: To collect those species,
ecotypes, landraces/farmers' varieties, or other cultivars,
and associated information, that are under threat or are of
anticipated use. 119.
Intermediate objectives: To begin to fill gaps
in the genetic diversity of existing collections with well
targeted and prioritized collecting. 120.
Policy/strategy: Collecting practices should
be developed with regard to the objectives and obligations
set forth in the Convention on Biological Diversity, for example
the right of Contracting Parties to require prior informed
consent before providing access to genetic resources and the
obligations of Contracting Parties, subject to their national
legislation, to respect the knowledge of indigenous communities
regarding the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity. 121.
Capacity: Material so collected should be deposited
in facilities which have the capacity to manage them in the
country of origin, and possibly elsewhere, as agreed by the
country of origin prior to collection. Where
such facilities do not exist in the country of origin, they
should be developed, where desired, and in the meantime, the
materials could be managed in other countries as agreed in
the country of origin prior to collection. 122.
Before collecting is initiated, full consideration should
be given to the ability to conserve the material collected
effectively and sustainably. 123.
Training should be undertaken in scientific collecting methods
for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. 124.
Coordination/administration: Coordination, as
appropriate, should take place within a country. International
level coordination, as appropriate, is needed to provide linkages
with ex situ collections and gapfilling and regeneration
efforts. Such
coordination might concern the identification of global needs
or specific needs of one country that could be met by plant
genetic resources for food and agriculture in another. 125.
Strong linkages need to be established with 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, including
surveying, inventorying and collecting. 33
Ex situ Conservation 126.
Mechanisms need to be developed at all levels for emergency
collection of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
These
mechanisms should make full use of and therefore should be
closely linked with information and early warning systems
at all levels. 127.
As part of national plant genetic resources programmes, governments
may designate a focal point for administering requests for
collecting. 128.
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