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

III. the species is endangered.
B. The species comprise only wild forms in the Nordic countries but is cultivated somewhere else.
C. The species is not cultivated anywhere (wild relative of a cultivated species).
There is a well established infrastructure for conservation of natural resources in the Nordic countries,
based on multi-institutional arrangements of various categories of nature reserves as well as a nongovernmental
volontary sector (NGO). To avoid duplication of work and to minimize NGB's own costs,
NGB prefers collaboration with those institutions to meet its requirements for in situ conservation.
Preliminary contacts have been taken in each Nordic country but finalization must await the
implementation of phase 2 of the Biodiversity Convention, i.e. the formulating of national strategies,
plans and programmes.
The presently widely advocated on-farm-conservation of plant genetic resources is with all probability
not applicable to the Nordic countries, since landraces are not in use in any part of the area and
smallholders of the type required are long since gone.
3. Present and potential users
The use of the PGR material and information of the Nordic countries is presently utilized by breeders
and researchers to the extent presented below. The general experience is that the utilization is
proportional to the information about the material available, i.e. the more information, the better the
utilization.
The knowledge and competence contained in the Nordic PGR programme is utilized in cooperation on
different levels with other countries, programmes and genebanks.
3.1 Acquisitions
In 1992 the NGB acquired seeds from 1178 accessions. 823 accessions have been or will be added to
the ordinary seed collection. 355 accessions are cereals belonging to the special collections.
3.2 Distribution
NGB received 94 requests for material in 1992. 40 were from the Nordic countries and 54 from abroad.
Nine requests were forwarded to other genebanks and two were serviced by means of material both from
the NGB and from other genebanks. In four cases it was not possible to supply the user with material.
The total number of accessions distributed was 1479, including 221 accessions which were acquired
from 22 other genebanks or institutes.
3.3 International cooperation
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) project to establish a regional gene bank
(SRGB) in the SADC countries is funded as a joint Nordic development project with NGB as the
executing agency. The project started in 1989 and is planned to run for twenty years. The SRGB is
located in Zambia, at Chalimbana, about 20 kilometres outside Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The plant