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May 22, 2007
by Jan Valkoun,
SciDev.Net
Jan Valkoun was head of the Genetic Resources Unit at ICARDA
in Aleppo, Syria from 1989–2006.
Guaranteed funding for the world's genebanks is essential to
preserve biodiversity and secure food supplies, says Jan
Valkoun.
Today, on International Day of Biodiversity, plant
diversity around the world is under threat from modern crop
improvement, habitat loss and disasters, both natural and
man-made.
Genebanks can conserve rich gene pools and help feed the world,
but they must secure continued funding if they are to survive.
Since the beginnings of agriculture some 10,000 years ago
farmers have not only grown crops, but also intuitively bred
them and produced seed. Indeed, they have long exploited rich
genetic diversity to adapt to drought, heat and disease or pest
resistance by creating new farmers' varieties, or 'landraces'.
Genetic diversity is conserved in wild relatives that still
survive today in 'centres of origin', most of which are located
in the developing world.
Landraces and crop wild relatives provide an invaluable source
of genetic material for improving crops and securing global food
supplies.
Indeed, collection missions — where the seeds of wild relatives
and landraces are collected from natural populations, farmers'
fields and market places to store in genebanks — have long made
biological diversity readily available to modern plant breeders,
researchers and farmers.
But both wild relatives and landraces across the globe have been
severely eroded over the past 100 years by habitat loss and
replacement with improved crop varieties, respectively.
A safety net
Concerns about the rapid loss of indigenous crop genetic
diversity in the 1960s–1980s led to a global effort —
coordinated by the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported by the
Consultative Group for
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and national
programs — to collect crop wild relatives and landraces in ex
situ genebanks across the world.
According to the FAO, there are now about 1,500 genebanks
worldwide — storing 6.5 million plant samples.
These are strategic global assets that provide a safety net
against the loss of valuable germplasm.
Wars and natural disasters, for example, can pose major threats
to plant collections in some developing countries. Much-needed
crop diversity was lost during the wars in Burundi, Cambodia,
Rwanda, and Somalia. National genebanks were looted and
destroyed during the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
In September 2006, Typhoon Xangsane damaged about 70 per cent of
the 46,000 genetic materials stored in the Philippines' National
Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory genebank.
In such cases, duplicate seed held in ex situ genebanks is
crucial to restoring crop diversity in farmers' fields and
original collections.
Nearly 700,000 samples of crops, forages and trees are held in
CGIAR's genebanks. One of its largest collections — nearly
135,000 samples of cereals and food and forage legumes — is held
at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas (ICARDA) in Syria. This is particularly important because
of its focus on crop improvement targeted at low-input and
stress-affected farming systems in developing countries.
Some 100,000 of ICARDA's
samples originate from Asia and Africa, with over 3,000 from
Afghanistan and 1,000 from Iraq. Already, a number of seed
samples have been multiplied and sent back to Afghanistan to
begin restoring the country's crop diversity. And the centre
plans to repatriate complete sets to both countries once
adequate facilities for seed storage become available.
A funding gap
But not all genebanks are so well equipped.
The FAO claims a large number are in a state of "rapid
deterioration". Some genebanks have closed, others have problems
with physical facilities and equipment and many have a large
backlog of plant samples that need regenerating.
International treaties and other agreements have attempted to
rectify the situation For example, both the FAO Global Plan of
Action — adopted by 150 countries in 1996 — and the 2001
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture promote ex situ plant collections to preserve
biodiversity.
But such agreements failed to provide the permanent funding
needed for their implementation. The CGIAR genebanks have also
been constrained by severe budget cuts — funding from the
centres' core budget has dropped by 50 per cent since 1994.
Financial support of the world's genebanks must be made a global
priority.
In 2004, the Global Crop
Diversity Trust was established as an international
financial mechanism for ensuring long-term conservation and
availability of plant genetic resources.
To this end, it has facilitated the construction of the Svalbard
Global Seed Vault in Norway. The vault, due to be completed in
September 2007, is intended to provide the ultimate safety net,
capable of storing some three million seed samples. The Global
Trust is committed to assisting developing countries prepare and
transport seeds to this remote Arctic genebank.
Diverse donors have thus far pledged US$115 million to the
Global Trust.
It has taken a lot of time and effort to develop a global
framework for conserving plant genetic diversity for the
long-term. But for it to ultimately succeed, it is now
imperative that the Global Trust generates sufficient funds to
support the agreed activities of the global genebank system in
perpetuity.
This will require active involvement from governments around the
world, CGIAR centres, donors and other major players in crop
diversity conservation. |
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