Over three-quarters of this fourth issue of “Forest Genetic Resources Information” is devoted to the “Proposals for a Global Programme for Improved Use of Forest Genetic Resources” which were approved by the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Genetic Resources at its Third Session in Rome in May 1974. It is thought that their inclusion in FGRI provides the best method of ensuring the widest possible circulation.
Apart from some up-dating in points of detail, the present proposals are identical with those published as FAO document FO:MISC/74/15 of November 1974. Table 6 - Forest Genetic Resources Priorities (by Region, Species and Operation) - has been added to complete the picture; it was previously published as Appendix 4 in the Report of the Third Session of the Panel.
A Global Programme on paper is no substitute for field work - the collection, distribution and documentation of individual seeds or propagules from individual trees of particular provenances on particular sites. The Panel, however, considered it an essential framework for future progress, in which proposals for particular projects can be related to an overall programme. This is especially important where finance is to be attracted from international sources, which have the responsibility of assessing proposals in the context of international rather than purely national priorities. For example, the Global Programme Proposals have been the basis for several project proposals in forest genetic resources recently submitted to the United Nations Environment Programme or to the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources.
It is essential that any programme of this nature be kept as flexible as possible. It will need to be modified in the light of experience and in accordance with the financial resources available to implement it. The Third World Consultation on Forest Tree Breeding (see announcement on page 68) will provide an excellent forum in which the Global Programme can be discussed and improved by forest geneticists from all over the world.
Other items in this issue have necessarily been curtailed, but there is information from countries as diverse as Morocco, Brazil and Denmark.
