134
5 Conservation Costs of PGRFA
A major part of the international expenditures represents the conservation efforts
of the CGIAR System. The genebanks of the 12 CGIAR centers may be understood
as the conservation sites which store the most utilized accessions at present, because
of the direct interaction between conservators and breeders in the centers.
Consequently, the costs for the CGIAR's conservation activities seem to be the
most efficiently utilized financial resources for PGRF A conservation on
international level. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the bilateral financial
assistance seems to be significantly higher than the multilateral assistance. In the
future, this bilateral financial assistance will be the key focus point in negotiations
and agreements. If the international negotiations on the access to and the benefit
sharing of PGRF A makes progress, the outline agreement may be to compensate
the access to PGRFA by increased financial assistance. Consequently, the flow of
financial contributions will increase, partly via the international organizations, but
mainly through the bilateral channels. The main question will be, whether
additional contributions will proportionally improve the conservation efforts on
national level.
So far in Chapter 5, the expenditures of conservation activities were examined
for 1995. The question has not yet been discussed, whether the efforts undertaken
are sufficient to achieve the discussed objectives (see Chap. 2.4).
According to the analysis of the Country Reports and the report on the state of
the world's PGRFA (FAO, 1996a), maintaining the status quo would lead to a
further degradation of genetic resources, in situ as well as ex situ. The analysis of
the effectiveness of PGRF A conservation in some selected countries confirms the
report (see Chap. 5.4). Consequently, more efforts need to be undertaken on a
national and an international level to maintain the diversity of agricultural crops.
The global plan of action (GPA) , as outlined in FAO (l996b) and adopted at the
International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources in Leipzig, 1996,
takes up all additional efforts needed for the conservation and sustainable utilization
ofPGRFA.
Drawing up and implementing a global plan of action with an incorporated
global program may avoid duplicated efforts, add value through the creation of
synergies among the partners, set global accepted priorities, and improve the access
to relevant information (Frison et al., 1997). The benefit of the global plan of action
is the increase of the efficiency of all efforts made to conserve genetic resources for
food and agriculture on a global level. In the light of limited financial resources for
all conservation activities, the increased efficiency through a global plan of action
will ensure the best possible solution to conserve PGRF A.
In contrast to the GP A, this study only identifies the major needs having an
impact on an increased degree of achievement for the above mentioned
conservation objectives (see Table 5.14). These additional efforts can be divided
into four different groups, which have impacts on the different objectives:
1. The activities of the first group aim at filling the gaps in existing ex situ
collections as well as improving their storage security. Consequently, activities
like surveying, inventorying, and collecting PGRF A will ensure that all varieties
are conserved in ex situ collections as well as improve the accessibility of the
varieties. Furthermore, activities like sustaining existing ex situ collections,
5 Conservation Costs of PGRFA
A major part of the international expenditures represents the conservation efforts
of the CGIAR System. The genebanks of the 12 CGIAR centers may be understood
as the conservation sites which store the most utilized accessions at present, because
of the direct interaction between conservators and breeders in the centers.
Consequently, the costs for the CGIAR's conservation activities seem to be the
most efficiently utilized financial resources for PGRF A conservation on
international level. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the bilateral financial
assistance seems to be significantly higher than the multilateral assistance. In the
future, this bilateral financial assistance will be the key focus point in negotiations
and agreements. If the international negotiations on the access to and the benefit
sharing of PGRF A makes progress, the outline agreement may be to compensate
the access to PGRFA by increased financial assistance. Consequently, the flow of
financial contributions will increase, partly via the international organizations, but
mainly through the bilateral channels. The main question will be, whether
additional contributions will proportionally improve the conservation efforts on
national level.
So far in Chapter 5, the expenditures of conservation activities were examined
for 1995. The question has not yet been discussed, whether the efforts undertaken
are sufficient to achieve the discussed objectives (see Chap. 2.4).
According to the analysis of the Country Reports and the report on the state of
the world's PGRFA (FAO, 1996a), maintaining the status quo would lead to a
further degradation of genetic resources, in situ as well as ex situ. The analysis of
the effectiveness of PGRF A conservation in some selected countries confirms the
report (see Chap. 5.4). Consequently, more efforts need to be undertaken on a
national and an international level to maintain the diversity of agricultural crops.
The global plan of action (GPA) , as outlined in FAO (l996b) and adopted at the
International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources in Leipzig, 1996,
takes up all additional efforts needed for the conservation and sustainable utilization
ofPGRFA.
Drawing up and implementing a global plan of action with an incorporated
global program may avoid duplicated efforts, add value through the creation of
synergies among the partners, set global accepted priorities, and improve the access
to relevant information (Frison et al., 1997). The benefit of the global plan of action
is the increase of the efficiency of all efforts made to conserve genetic resources for
food and agriculture on a global level. In the light of limited financial resources for
all conservation activities, the increased efficiency through a global plan of action
will ensure the best possible solution to conserve PGRF A.
In contrast to the GP A, this study only identifies the major needs having an
impact on an increased degree of achievement for the above mentioned
conservation objectives (see Table 5.14). These additional efforts can be divided
into four different groups, which have impacts on the different objectives:
1. The activities of the first group aim at filling the gaps in existing ex situ
collections as well as improving their storage security. Consequently, activities
like surveying, inventorying, and collecting PGRF A will ensure that all varieties
are conserved in ex situ collections as well as improve the accessibility of the
varieties. Furthermore, activities like sustaining existing ex situ collections,