United for diversity
The genetic diversity of crop plant, livestock, forestry
and aquatic species is the basis of improved
production in natural and managed ecosystems. It
fuels biological innovation and adaptation in the
face of change, and is thus the key to
sustainability of production. Biodiversity is unique
among the Earth’s resources in that it can be used
without being used up. But it can also be lost
without being used.
Genetic erosion driven by monoculture, industrialization
and habitat degradation threatens the future of
agricultural production. This loss of biodiversity
is a global problem. It will take a united effort on
a global scale to stem genetic erosion and ensure
that genetic resources be used sustainably for the
benefit of all, especially the world’s poor and
hungry.
The international community has taken the lead in
developing strategies and legal instruments to
address this challenge. The
Convention on Biological
Diversity was signed at the Rio
Earth Summit in 1992, the
Global Plan of Action for the
Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
was adopted in 1996, and the
International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
was adopted in 2001 and came into force in 2004.
These are all important steps towards realizing a
comprehensive global system for conserving and using
biodiversity, but this system is definitely work in
progress. So far much of the effort has focused on
crop genetic resources; yet forest, animal and
aquatic genetic resources need to be included,
reflecting their importance to sustainable
development and the interdependence of all of the
components of the complex that is agricultural
biodiversity (or
agrobiodiversity).
The CGIAR system, with its hundreds of research scientists
and technicians working in partnership with national
institutes, universities and farmers throughout the
world, and with its extensive research facilities
and vast collections of plant genetic materials, is
committed to helping build this global system. SGRP
unites the CGIAR Centres in this endeavour to turn
commitment into results.
Find out more about SGRP:
Working together for
over two decades
The SGRP is the culmination of a long-standing
collaborative partnership among CGIAR Centre
scientists and technicians involving sharing of
know-how and joint action to address common research
problems. The focus of the collaboration has always
been the CGIAR Centre genebanks’ plant genetic
resources collections and the challenges surrounding
their management.
In 1987, the first step was taken in formalizing the
collaboration among the Centres through the creation
of the Inter-Centre Working Group on Plant Genetic
Resources. This comprised the CGIAR
genebank managers plus an representative of the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the Untied Nations (FAO),
and was given the remit of developing common
policies and activities for managing the
collections.
A review of CGIAR priorities and strategies conducted in
1992 by the then Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
of the CGIAR identified an urgent need for a
system-wide strategy and programme on genetic
resources. Conscious of the importance of the
collections and the need for their effective and
responsible management, TAC then commissioned a
Stripe Study of Genetic Resources in the CGIAR. The
study, initiated in 1993 and reporting in 1994,
strongly advocated for an integrated, system-wide
programme.
The response was swift, with the establishment in the same year of the
SGRP, coordinated through a Secretariat based at
IPGRI/Bioversity International and the Inter-Centre
Working Group, and with specific collaborative
activities complementing individual Centre genetic
resources programmes.
The SGRP of today echoes many of the individual
recommendations of the Stripe Study with
collaborative activities including research on the
economic valuation of genetic resources,
on policies for handling genetic resources,
on conservation
technology and collection management, a standardized
system of information management, development of
in-trust arrangements, and safety duplication
of all the genebank
collections held by the CGIAR Centres. Importantly,
SGRP reflects the genetic resources interests of all
Centres, and every Centre has a voice in
shaping the Programme through membership of an
expanded Inter-Centre Working Group, covering plant,
livestock and aquatic genetic resources.
Find out more about the
governance of SGRP.
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Collective action and
a common voice for conservation
SGRP provides the CGIAR with a flexible means of working in
the genetic resources arena. At the broadest, SGRP
serves as an umbrella and communication mechanism
for the CGIAR’s range of genetic resources
activities. Thereby, the Centres, whilst pursuing
their individual mandates with their own funding,
contribute to a coordinated agenda.
They share information and know-how, stay abreast of policy
and scientific developments in the global genetic
resources sphere, and participate in international
debate. The CGIAR Centres are recognized as
constant, trusted and respected contributors on
often contentious questions. Through speaking with
an informed and common voice on international policy
matters, the CGIAR Centres help shape international
genetic resource policies and ensure that they are
successfully implemented.
Within the CGIAR system, SGRP helps the Centres establish
common genetic resource policies and practices that
are in line with international laws and global
biodiversity conservation strategies. This work is
particularly important for the management of the CGIAR
Centre genebanks. Under the terms of the
International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,
over 650,000 samples held in these genebanks are in
the public domain. They belong to us all. The CGIAR
Centres are trustees of this priceless collection of
genetic materials.
Find out more about the
work of
SGRP and the CGIAR Centres’
in-trust collections.
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Research that
matters
The genebank management work of the Centres ensures that
the in-trust collections are healthy and readily
available for use by plant breeders and farmers.
Moreover, this work helps set standards for the
world, representing a weighty responsibility to
achieve excellence. Through SGRP, the CGIAR Centres
share their expertise and experiences on all aspects
of biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use
of plant, animal, and aquatic genetic resources.
This creates a formidable body of knowledge about
best practices, suitable technologies and effective
training materials for sustaining biodiversity, not
just in genebanks and research labs, but in farmers’
fields and other ecosystems.
It goes without saying that to be effective, genetic
resource practices must be based on sound scientific
research. SGRP helps shape the Centres’ research
strategies by identifying knowledge gaps and
opportunities for achieving economies of scale in
conducting research of common interest. Carrying out
high-quality agricultural research is what the CGIAR
Centres are all about, and the CGIAR’s Science
Council has made sustaining biodiversity for current
and future generations a top research priority
Find out more
about the
CGIAR research priorities.
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Strength through collaboration
The collaboration achieved through SGRP makes the CGIAR
system stronger. The in-trust collections are a
global public good of immeasurable importance. In
addition to these tangible public goods,
inter-Centre cooperation and collaboration on
genetic resources generate parallel global public
goods in the form of knowledge.
SGRP works to deliver these goods to the people who need
them most, including policy-makers, researchers,
conservationists, plant and animal breeders,
farmers, foresters and fisherfolk. In this way, SGRP
ensures that the work carried out by the CGIAR
Centres has an impact on both the formulation of
international genetic resource policies and
strategies and their implementation in the field.
Collaboration on genebank management policies and practices
is helping the CGIAR genebanks operate more
cost-effectively and efficiently. Streamlining the
management of the collections, with particular
attention to collections held in common among
Centres, is contributing to sustainability in the
long term.
Find out more about
our work. |
