Agrobiodiversität in Deutschland - Genres

14 | Johannes Engels
From the earliest conservation and use activities
of genetic resources until today
Domestication and subsequent crop improvement took place and still take
place in many locations worldwide, especially in the so-called centres of
origin of agriculture. These centres coincide with centres of diversity and
many of our important crop plants originated and spread from them. The
unrestricted exchange of crops and genetic diversity has played an important
role in helping agriculture to evolve and to spread to new areas and
continents. In a number of known cases, the domestication experiences
with certain crops were transferred to new situations in new geographical
areas and by different people. Thus, the availability and movement of
genetic resources have allowed new crops to be domesticated and/or to be
grown in new regions, frequently without their natural enemies and thus,
significantly contributing to a more effective agriculture. Such unrestricted
movements of genetic resources have taken place worldwide.
During the 18th and 19th centuries a keen interest in the diversity of horticultural
species developed, especially in rare and ‘strange’ species, and
targeted expeditions were mounted to explore and collect such material.
Alexander von Humboldt (14.09.1769 – 06.05.1859) was one of the explorers,
and through his keen scientific interest he discovered numerous new plant
species during his European and American expeditions. He described them
(at least 12 species are named after him) and brought them home to Berlin.
This was all done in the absence of any legal or moral constraints or even
the notion that such scientific activities could be subversive!
With the discovery of the Mendelian laws of inheritance (published in
1865 and rediscovered at the turn of the 19th century) professional plant
breeding evolved rapidly and the need for more genetic diversity increased
steadily with progressive breeding efforts. Professional plant breeders thus
established their so-called breeders’ collections that were maintained over
the short to medium-term to facilitate ongoing and future breeding efforts.
These collections provided, in many instances, the foundation of and
evolved into genebank collections, increasingly with long-term conservation
objectives. The transfer of genes and traits from less closely related
species became possible with the development of advanced technologies
and thus an increased interest in a wider array of material developed. At the
same time the modern technologies triggered increasing application of in-
tellectual property protection, i.e. variety protection and patents, and thus
impacted negatively on the unrestricted availability of genetic resources.
Nikolai Vavilov (25.11.1887 - 26.01.1943) was an explorer and plant collector
who had been given the huge task of spreading agriculture eastwards in the
Soviet Union, into Siberia. Consequently, significant species and crop diversity
was required and collected on all continents and brought to Leningrad
(today St. Petersburg) for conservation and evaluation. Thus, one of the first
and biggest genebanks in the world was established. This approach allowed
Vavilov to postulate the centres of origin of agriculture and to discover that
genetic diversity was concentrated in eight (and a half) centers of diversity.
Vavilov’s activities were only possible as there were no restrictions placed on
collecting and moving germplasm around the globe.
With the explicit recognition of national sovereign rights of states over their
biodiversity, but also with the obligation to make these resources available
under mutually agreed terms, including allowing collecting of genetic resources
with prior informed consent, the Convention on Biological Diversity
(entered into force in December 1993) heralded a new era with respect to the
legal status of biodiversity. It introduced the concept of ‘access and benefit
sharing’ and this was further elaborated in the International Treaty (entered
into force in June 2004). The latter established the ‘multilateral system for
facilitated access to plant genetic resources’ for approximately 35 crops and
some 30 grass species under governmental control and management.
In conclusion, against current legal standards and regulations, both von
Humboldt and Vavilov were biopirates. However, we can be pleased that
they did carry out the research they were interested in as that, directly or
indirectly, contributed to the development of the genebank concept and
that it resulted in the establishment of one of the first genebanks, almost
hundred years ago! Whereas we can make the statement that genebanks can
be regarded as a safe haven for genetic resources, we also have to make sure
that their important role is not undermined by restrictive and/or complicated
legal regulations.
Johannes Engels | 15