For its anniversary, ECPGR has released a video that illustrates the importance of conserving plant genetic resources, using apple diversity as an example. Marc Lateur, ECPGR National Coordinator of Belgium, emphasizes that once biodiversity is gone, you can never get it back. A small gene pool also poses the risk of spreading diseases, as plants with a narrow genetic base have a higher susceptibility. To further ensure this apple diversity, as well as all our other crops, in cultivation and on the market, the conservation and availability of plant genetic resources plays a very crucial role, especially in view of changing environmental conditions.For its anniversary, ECPGR has released a video that illustrates the importance of conserving plant genetic resources, using apple diversity as an example. Marc Lateur, ECPGR National Coordinator of Belgium, emphasizes that once biodiversity is gone, you can never get it back. A small gene pool also poses the risk of spreading diseases, as plants with a narrow genetic base have a higher susceptibility. To further ensure this apple diversity, as well as all our other crops, in cultivation and on the market, the conservation and availability of plant genetic resources plays a very crucial role, especially in view of changing environmental conditions.
Biodiversity conservation as shared responsibility
No country in the world is autonomous in the conservation and use of crop diversity. International cooperation at the European and global levels is therefore essential to secure and sustainably use the diversity of plant genetic resources nationally and globally, thereby contributing to food security, sustainable agriculture and adaptation to climate change.
ECPGR is a collaborative Programme among most European countries, aiming at ensuring the long-term conservation and facilitating the utilization of plant genetic resources in Europe. The Programme, which is financed by the participating countries and is coordinated by a Secretariat, operates through Working Groups dealing with groups of crops or with general themes related to plant genetic resources. In doing so, the various Working Groups provide opportunities to share project ideas, discuss potential funding opportunities, and develop project partnerships. In addition, many joint initiatives have been realised over the past 40 years, including the establishment of common technical standards for the documentation and conservation of plant genetic resources, joint collecting missions, capacity building, and the development of the European Internet Search Catalogue EURISCO, which contains information on more than two million crop collections from across Europe.
ECPGR thus represents an essential element for advancing the coordinated conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources in Europe.
For more information, please click here or visit the website of ECPGR.