|
Genebanks in the CGIAR:
Bolstering World Food Security
 When the CGIAR celebrated World Food Day last
month, it drew attention to the vital role of genebanks, announcing
World Bank approval of a US$10 million grant in support of this
work.
More than 600,000 plant samples reside in the 11 genebanks
operated by CGIAR-supported Centers. "Our genebanks represent
the most important international effort to conserve genetic
resources of staple crops, forages and agroforestry species,"
said CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider.
"The plant samples are not the Centers' property,"
added Emile Frison, Director General of the International Plant
Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), "but are global public
goods, held in trust for humanity."
"Investing in agriculture for food security" was the
theme of World Food Day, which the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations marks each year on October
16, the anniversary of its founding. "Of the many investments
needed, none is more fundamental than support for genebanks, which
safeguard the crop diversity on which food security depends,"
noted Katherine Sierra, Vice President of the World Bank's
Sustainable Development Network and CGIAR Chair.
Safeguarding the Genetic Base of Food
Production
The new grant strengthens and complements other efforts under
way since the 1990s to better safeguard the genetic base of world
food production. Two major reviews revealed a need for additional
investment to fully guarantee long- term preservation of the
collections held in trust by the CGIAR Centers. The CGIAR responded
with measures designed to ensure that the genebanks meet
international standards for conservation and to make the
collections more widely available to users.
In 1994, the CGIAR System-wide Genetic Resources Programme
(SGRP) was set up to coordinate activities across Centers. The SGRP
then established the System-wide Information Network for Genetic
Resources to improve access to information about the in-trust plant
collections. More recently, the Global Crop Diversity Trust was
created to build a solid financial foundation for ensuring the
conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security
worldwide.
In 2003, the World Bank began supporting a two-part initiative
to improve the conservation and management of the collections held
by the CGIAR as global public goods. During the first phase
(mid-2003 to 2006), with a grant of US$13.6 million, the Centers
processed, regenerated, characterized and tested more than 275,000
plant samples.
In a second 3-year phase to begin in 2007, the Centers will use
the new grant of $10.46 million to further improve their
stewardship of the collections, increase collaboration and
contribute importantly to the development of a global system for
conservation and use of crop genetic resources.
A Global System for Conserving and Using Crop
Diversity
This work will take place within the framework of the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture, which came into force in 2004 and has since been
ratified by more than 100 countries. The Treaty creates a
multilateral system that offers signatory countries access to
selected genetic resources from all other signatories.
On World Food Day, the Centers signed agreements in Rome with
FAO, which will bring the in-trust collections into the new
multilateral system. "This significant step," said Jane
Toll, SGRP Coordinator and Director of IPGRI's Global
Partnerships Programme "puts the CGIAR genebanks at the heart
of an emerging global system for the conservation and use of plant
genetic resources."
Each year the Centers distribute as many as 50,000 samples,
mainly to national programs in developing countries. Plant breeders
and farmers employ these resources in crop improvement, putting to
use genes for traits such as better nutritional quality, specific
consumer preferences and tolerance to drought and other harsh
conditions. "This work is vital for enabling agriculture to
remain esilient in the face of changing global conditions in the
climate, environment and economy," commented Frison.
To cite a recent example, CGIAR wheat researchers and colleagues
in Ethiopia and Kenya identified resistance to a new race of a
major disease, black stem rust, among samples of traditional wheat
varieties. They are now incorporating the resistant lines into
wheat breeding programs in an effort to ward off a global rust
epidemic.
The genebanks have also proved vital, on dozens of occasions,
for helping rural people recover from more sudden shocks to food
systems, caused by natural disasters or conflict. For example, in
dealing with the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, Hurricane Mitch
in Honduras and Nicaragua, and the consequences of war in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the genebanks were instrumental in
replenishing stocks of local and improved crop varieties.
Photo credit: International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA)
Useful Links
|
