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

anything, there has been a tendency towards exclusion of both availability and use.
Examples like this should suffice to indicate that there is a need for clear establishment of roles, which
in its turn requires a clear terminology, to avoid confusion. A few examples could demonstrate this.
Firstly, the definition of the CBD on in-situ conservation reads "..... and, in the case of domesticated
or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties."
(bold by the author).
This definition is obviously based on location, and not on mode of conservation. Under this definition,
on-farm-management becomes a part of in situ conservation. If this is accepted, will it then be possible
to place also farmers fields under protection by laws regulating nature conservation in general?
Secondly, the definition in CBD on country of origin reads: "Country of origin of genetic resources
means the country which possesses those genetic resources in in-situ conditions." Since in most of
Europe the landraces and older varieties at this point in time are maintained almost exclusively ex situ,
should this then mean that Nordic landraces of eg. barley, will have as country of origin Syria or Ethiopia
or whatever place that people came from that invaded Europe after the ice receded?
Finally and in conclusion, biodiversity conservation for different reasons will have to concentrate on the
ecosystem and species level and work with the entire spectrum of organisms, and PGR conservation on
the infraspecific level with a very limited number of species. Further, biodiversity conservation has in
situ conservation as main instrument, PGR conservation has the ex situ. Consequently, the
complementary and extending role of PGR conservation seems obvious. In the process of establishing
roles of existing institutions - and NGOs - it is also essential that this and the following cooperation, is
based on a common interpretetion of the Convention on Biodiversity and a use of common terminology.