I should really have pointed to this earlier. The draft Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOTW2) was presented for review to the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group (ITWG) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture held at FAO headquarters, Rome on 15-17 July 2009. The First State of the World’s PGRFA report is of course more than ten years old.
All the documents relevant to the ITWG meeting are online, including the draft SOTW2 report, as a large pdf. The idea is that, after whatever changes the ITWG recommended are taken into account, the final version of the SOTW2 will be presented to the Twelfth Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Rome, 18-23 October 2009) for endorsement.
The process of developing SOTW2 has been tortuous, and no doubt far from perfect, but this does constitute the best data we have on what’s happening in plant genetic resources conservation and use worldwide.
I’m afraid I can’t resist quoting some headline numbers on the ex situ side, but there are also chapters on in situ, use, national programmes and legislation, regional and international collaboration, access and benefit sharing the full monty.
Chapter 3 shows that the total number of accessions conserved ex situ world-wide has increased by approximately 20% (1.4 million) since 1996, reaching 7.4 million. It is estimated, however, that less than 30% of this total are distinct accessions (1.9 – 2.2 million). During the same period, new collecting accounted for about 220,000 accessions.
And again:
There are now more than 1,750 individual genebanks worldwide, about 130 of which hold more than 10,000 accessions each. There are also substantial ex situ collections in botanical gardens, of which there are over 2,500 around the world. Genebanks are located on all continents, but there are relatively fewer in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Among the largest collections are those that have been built up over more than 35 years by the CGIAR and are held in trust for the world community. In 1994 the Centres signed agreements with FAO bringing their collections within the International Network of Ex Situ Collections. These were subsequently brought under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2006 (ITPGRFA – see Chapter 7).
Still a lot of room for rationalization. Here’s a map of the localities of those 130 large genebanks, which is also available on the WIEWS website (click to enlarge).
