Integration of Conservation Strategies of Plant Genetic ... - Genres

3.3 Variability within the species
Nature conservation in general, including in situ reserves, tend to concentrate on the species level
diversity. The main objective of a genebank, on the other hand, is to conserve genetic diversity of plants
of present or potential use for man. The main utilization includes here plant breeding, for which
availability of infraspecific variation is essential. Focusing on the in situ conservation, one of the
problems is how to assess the existing infraspecific variation among the candidates chosen for in situ
conservation - the genetic diversity across the whole geographical and ecological range of the area for
which the genebank has the conservation and utilization responsibility. For certain species, where
diversity extends over more or less the whole area, a system of reserves might be the realistic way to
preserve the diversity of the species.
However, information on infraspecific genetic diversity, in existing protected areas, is often very limited
and specific studies within and between populations for a few species using a variety of well-established
methods, will be needed to assess this parameter.
Documentations of different environments in which species grow, give indications that variation may
exist. Further ecogeographical studies of selected sites for in situ are important tools in assessing
variability within a species. The data that will emerge from ecogeographical surveys and information on
habitats from common flora inventories regarding mandate species for the Genebank will be a very
important contribution in the effort to screen the genetic diversity of populations.
4. Discussion
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is, as the name indicates, aimed at conserving the Earths
biological diversity. It is therefore also natural that the emphasis is on the ecosystem and species level
of that diversity, and consequently on in situ conservation. The conservation of genetic resources, i.e.
the genetic diversity of cultivated plants, which is in number of species small but in economic and human
wellfare aspects very important, therefore needs to be clarified and possibly guarded, to receive proper
attention. A sign of this need could well be the fact that in some nations the implementation of the CBD
has been more or less monopolized by the interests of environment to the almost exclusion of the
interests of agriculture and forestry. Since agriculture and forestry are also main factors of ecosystem
influence, this could lead astray.
Internationally, FAO and its Commission of plant genetic resources, as well as International Board for
Plant Genetic Resources and European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources have long
experience of work with PGR. It seems essential that such organizations get a seat and a saying in any
new organization, national, regional or international, handling the implementation of CBD.
In many respects the CBD is, for different reasons, a vague document. From the side of PGR sustainable
conservation and use many aspects need to be clarified, and one of these is the role of in situ
conservation in PGR conservation, and reversed. Since the tasks involved have a large area overlapping
with those of the general nature conservation and conservation of biodiversity as a whole, it seems clear
that a collaboration has to be established and clear roles worked out, to avoid duplication of efforts. It
seems also clear, that the infraspecific variability, the diversity below the species level, introduces a
factor into such collaboration which is rather new to nature conservation but has for long been an
essential element in PGR conservation.
Another factor to be considered is the demand for more or less immediate availability, for breeding and
research purposes, of PGR, which has been totally lacking from the concept of nature conservation. If