particularly important to Europe in terms <strong>of</strong> production quantity and/or value were selected. In terms <strong>of</strong> production quantity, there are 18 crops or crop groups <strong>of</strong> which Europe produced an average <strong>of</strong> >1MT in five years from 2003–2007 that have CWR native to Europe that may be important for crop improvement: wheat, sugar beet, barley, grapes, rapeseed, apples, oats, cabbages (and other brassicas), rye, olives, carrots and turnips, onions, peaches and nectarines, peas, lettuce and chicory, pears, plums and sloes, and strawberries (Figure 10). Note that there are other economically important crops excluded from this list (e.g., potato) that have wild relatives in Europe, but they are very distant wild relatives – the centre <strong>of</strong> diversity <strong>of</strong> the potato gene pool being in South America – and are therefore not considered a priority in terms <strong>of</strong> their potential as gene donors for crop improvement. Figure 11 shows the average value <strong>of</strong> crops or crop groups produced in Europe over five years from 2004–2008 that have CWR native to Europe which may be important for crop improvement. All <strong>of</strong> the crops or crop groups included in this analysis are also included in the priority list <strong>of</strong> human food crops based on production quantity. This selection <strong>of</strong> 18 crops or crop groups is found within 19 genera within which there are 279 species native to Europe. Step 4: CWR <strong>of</strong> animal food crops The production quantity and economic value data that are available for human food crops are not available for animal food crops on an individual crop basis; therefore, it is not possible to prioritize animal food crops according to these criteria. However, <strong>of</strong> the 279 CWR species identified in the high priority human food CWR group, 106 are wild relatives <strong>of</strong> forage and/or fodder crops, as well as human food crops; therefore, CWR <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> animal food crops are included in this list. Step 5: CWR <strong>of</strong> other human and animal food crops To add to the high priority list <strong>of</strong> 279 species described above, Annex I <strong>of</strong> the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) was also used as the basis for species selection. This is a list <strong>of</strong> PGRFA established according to criteria <strong>of</strong> food security and interdependence and includes 78 genera containing human or animal food crops. Fifty-nine <strong>of</strong> these genera contain taxa that are native to Europe, some <strong>of</strong> which are already included in the high priority CWR list defined above. Annex I <strong>of</strong> the ITPGRFA is divided into two lists: 1) human food crops, and 2) forages. The human food crop list mainly lists entire genera because the CWR <strong>of</strong> these crops are recognized as being important for food security. The forage list only includes specific species because a) the crops are mainly selections from wild species and the CWR are less likely to be used for crop improvement, and b) many <strong>of</strong> the forage genera contain a very large number <strong>of</strong> species; for example, Festuca contains 204 species native to Europe. Additional human food crop genera listed in Annex I <strong>of</strong> the ITPGRFA that were included in the list <strong>of</strong> CWR for assessment are: Asparagus, brassica complex (Armoracia, Barbarea, Camelina, Crambe, Diplotaxis, Eruca, Isatis, Lepidium, Raphanus, Rorippa and Sinapis 6 ), Cicer, Lathyrus (only those in Gene Pools (GP) 1b and 2 and Taxon Groups (TG) 1b and 2 – see Maxted et al. 2006), Lens, wheat complex (Agropyron and Elymus 7 ), and Vicia (GP1b, TG1b, GP2, TG2 and four species for which data were readily available). Lathyrus and Vicia species were limited to the close wild relatives only, due to the large number <strong>of</strong> species included in these genera. Fifty-two <strong>of</strong> the forage species listed in Annex I <strong>of</strong> the ITPGRFA are native to Europe. These were all included for assessment as their continued existence in the wild is important for the future <strong>of</strong> these crops; thus, knowing their conservation status in the wild is important to inform conservation planning. In addition, all Medicago species native to Europe were included on the basis <strong>of</strong> data availability. This selection process concluded with a list <strong>of</strong> 596 species; however, subsequently some <strong>of</strong> these were removed as they are hybrids. At a later stage in the project, some additional species were added by experts at a <strong>European</strong> CWR <strong>Red</strong> <strong>List</strong> workshop; these included five species in the genus Sinapidendron, which is related to brassica crops and endemic to the Madeira archipelago, and some recently described species <strong>of</strong> Crambe endemic to the Canary Islands. The final list <strong>of</strong> CWR species for assessment comprised 591 species in 25 crop gene pools/ groups (Table 4), 188 <strong>of</strong> which are endemic to Europe. Twenty-four <strong>of</strong> these species are also included in either annexes <strong>of</strong> the EU Habitats Directive or <strong>of</strong> the Bern Convention that were assessed as part <strong>of</strong> the <strong>European</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>List</strong> initiative. It is also important to note that a further 634 <strong>of</strong> the species in the policy list are included in the CWR Catalogue for Europe and the Mediterranean 6 Brassica spp. are included in the high priority human food crop list. 7 Triticum, Aegilops and Secale spp. are included in the high priority human food crop list. 20
Figure 10. Crops/crop groups <strong>of</strong> which Europe produced an average <strong>of</strong> >1MT in five years from 2003–2007 that have CWR native to Europe which may be important for crop improvement (Kell et al. in prep). Data source: FAOSTAT (FAO 2009). Figure 11. The average value (millions <strong>of</strong> Euros) <strong>of</strong> crops/crop groups produced in Europe over five years from 2004–2008 that have CWR native to Europe which may be important for crop improvement (Kell et al. in prep). Data source: Eurostat (<strong>European</strong> Communities 1995–2009). 21
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