The four strategies were presented to a political delegation of European Commission representatives, members of the European Parliament and national policy makers on November 30. To this end, 77 participants exchanged ideas and networked on-site at the hybrid event, and another 250 interested participants watched the livestream.
The strategies presented respond to a call from the European Commission to "provide a framework in which the existing mosaic of European, national/regional structures can join forces to develop and implement ambitious approaches and strategies for the management of crop, forest and animal genetic resources."
Cross-national collaboration
The partners involved agreed that in addition to creating the strategies, a key outcome of the project is greater collaboration between the three domains of plant, animal and forest genetic resources.
Annette Schneegans of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development agreed that genetic resources are central to many European policies and added that collaboration has helped the three European Programmes, ECPGR, ERFP and EUFORGEN, to advance their individual roadmaps.
Presentation of the domain-specific strategies
In synergy with the project, the European plant, animal and forest genetic resources programs ECPGR, ERFP and EUFORGEN have developed respective domain-specific strategies and identified actions to improve activities for the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources in the region. These were presented alongside the overarching strategy by a respective representative of each program. The strategies are available for the first time at the following links:
The look ahead
Within a panel discussion, the possible implementation of the strategies and the required measures at European and national level were discussed.
Frank Begemann, from the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, emphasized that a step change is necessary and that it is essential to think in European dimensions. The strategies serve as a model for the EU and the member countries.
The Commission welcomed the valuable contribution of the strategies to research and innovation, as they would provide a concrete roadmap for necessary investments. However, none of the three Commissioners committed to adopting the recommendations in full.
Nigel Maxted of the University of Birmingham summarized the results of the panel discussion, emphasizing the tremendous progress that the three European programs have made by working together. There remains an urgent need to implement the priority recommendations identified in the GRS4E, which have been carefully formulated by all stakeholders involved.
For a detailed summary of the event and its outcomes, please see the press release on the GenRes Bridge project page
Project background
The Strategy for Genetic Resources in Europe was produced as part of the GenRes Bridge project, funded under the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
GenRes Bridge involves 17 partner organizations representing a wide range of stakeholders in the field of conservation and sustainable use of plant, animal and forest genetic resources in Europe and its neighboring countries. The IBV (Information and Coordination Center for Biodiversity) of the BLE is leading the work package for the development of the strategy as project partner.