Germplasm Acquisition and Distribution by CGIAR Genebanks

Abstract

The international collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers are important components of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s global system of conservation and use of PGRFA. They also play an important supportive role in realizing Target 2.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper analyzes CGIAR genebanks’ trends in acquiring and distributing PGRFA over the last 35 years, with a particular focus on the last decade. The paper highlights a number of factors influencing the Centers’ acquisition of new PGRFA to include in the international collections, including increased capacity to analyze gaps in those collections and precisely target new collecting missions, availability of financial resources, and the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws and phytosanitary regulations. Factors contributing to Centers’ distributions of PGRFA included the extent of accession-level information, users’ capacity to identify the materials they want, and policies. The genebanks’ rates of both acquisition and distribution increased over the last decade. The paper ends on a cautionary note concerning the potential of unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information to undermine international cooperation to conserve and use PGRFA.

Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Matter!

“…As reported by Halewood et al [14], there is widespread concern, especially among developing countries, regarding the governance of digital genomic sequence information, leading to international disagreement over access and benefit sharing regulations. However, despite the enormous enthusiasm regarding the importance of dematerialized digital genomic sequences for the potential engineering of new plants, the conservation of accessions in physical form will remain important as genotyping needs the complement of phenotyping to be of relevance for plant breeders.…”

“…Efficient adaptation strategies for agriculture in a dynamically changing climate require, among other measures, effective and rational conservation and sustainable utilization of agricultural biodiversity, both in situ as well as in genebanks, and facilitated access to genetic resources of crops and their wild relatives by plant breeders and other users [12]. International access and exchange of genetic resources relies on the safe movement of germplasm across borders [13], with germplasm health requirements clearly differing from one country to another, and this germplasm movement raises a multitude of policy issues and concerns regarding access and benefit-sharing, ownership, intellectual property rights and patents imposed on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) and breeding lines [14], as well as implications of transgenic crops for biodiversity and sustainable agriculture [15].…”

“…The international germplasm collections hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers include over 760,000 accessions of crops, forages, and trees [14], and constitute a major proportion of the international germplasm exchange. Over the last ten years, the CGIAR genebanks distributed over 1.1 million PGRFA samples to recipients in 163 countries.…”

“…Therefore, the CGIAR Germplasm Health Units play a major role in safe global germplasm movement and exchange and the prevention of the trans-boundary spread of pests and diseases [13]. Halewood et al [14] elucidated the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws, noting some unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information that have the potential to undermine international cooperation to conserve, share and use germplasm for use in food and agriculture.…”

Phytosanitary Interventions for Safe Global Germplasm Exchange and the Prevention of Transboundary Pest Spread: The Role of CGIAR Germplasm Health Units

“…These distributions from the CGIAR programs account for almost 89% of the total annual international germplasm exchanges (note: ‘exchange’ and ‘transfers’ used as a common term to denote germplasm exports or imports between countries. ), under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA or the Plant Treaty) [ 2 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Between 2010 to 2019, the CGIAR genebanks acquired 116,921 distinct accessions, about 35% of which were acquired through the centers’ own breeding programs and 65% were acquired from collection missions or through national programs in 142 countries [ 7 ].…”