Recommendations on plant genetics
At its Twenty-second Session in November 1983, the FAO Conference adopted a resolution launching an International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources so that the world's plant genetic resources can be better explored, preserved and made available for plant-breeding and scientific purposes.
The Undertaking asks governments to take more effective action (1) to explore and collect in their own territories all valuable plant genetic resources that arc in danger of becoming extinct: and (2) to maintain, develop and/or adopt legislative measures to protect and preserve them in their natural habitat or, if necessary, in gene banks or living collections. Governments and institutions, having placed such resources under their control, should allow unrestricted access to samples by others for scientific and plant-breeding purposes.
The Undertaking foresees intensified international cooperation in venous aspects of plant genetic resources, aiming particularly at strengthening the capabilities of developing countries to survey and safeguard their own resources, to breed improved crop varieties and to develop their infrastructures in seed production and distribution.
At the heart of the Undertaking is a commitment to develop., under the auspices of FAO, an internationally coordinated network of national, regional and international centres in order to hold, for the benefit of the international community and of future generations collections of plant genetic resources of important plant species.
In response to a related resolution of the Twenty-second Session of the Conference, the FAO Council, at its Eighty-fifth Session (24 November 1983), established the new FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to give policy guidance to FAO in this field and to monitor progress in the implementation of the Undertaking.
CONSERVING INTERNATIONAL GENETIC RESOURCES: FAO underlines the need for action
Energy self-reliance for DCs
The Twelfth Congress of the World Energy Conference hosted by India (New Delhi. 18-23 September 1983), had as its theme " Energy Development - Quality of Life". Attended by more than 3000 delegates from developed and developing countries, self-reliance the Congress strongly endorsed the importance of diversifying energy sources to increase self-reliance in energy. In industrialized countries, the trend toward self-reliance had resulted in increased exploitation of nuclear energy, hydroelectricity and coal. Self-reliance for developing countries included the exploitation of the hydropower potential, coal (where available), biogas and solar energy.
The Congress discussed the problems of oil substitution in developing countries and felt that local circumstances must dictate what was economically and technically feasible. However, if the economic growth objectives of developing countries were to be met, it was inevitable that oil use, as well as total energy consumption, would have to increase.
The interrelationship between developed countries and the oil-importing and oil-exporting developing countries was an important topic at the Congress, and the need to promote the use of new and renewable sources of energy was discussed. The Congress recommended the establishment of a committee to deal with new and renewable sources of energy.
New Himalayan environment centre
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which will be officially inaugurated in October 1983, is sponsored by the Governments of Nepal, the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland and by Unesco. Its primary objective is to promote economically and environmentally sound development in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas and improve the well-being of the local populations. The region includes partially or totally, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The Centre will be a focal point for multidisciplinary documentation, training and applied research, as well as a consultative service for resource management and development activities. (ICIMOD, c/o SATA Ekanta Kuna. GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal.)
Tropical mountain ecosystems study
An intercontinental study of tropical mountain ecosystems is being organized as part of the "Decade of the Tropics" programme of International Union of Biological Sciences. The objective is an integrative comparison of the physical and biological characteristics of five mountain systems New Guinea. East Africa, the Himalayas, the northern Andes anti Hawaii. Preliminary findings of the study will be presented at the International Association of Ecology's Congress in Syracuse, New York, in 1986.
Wallaceana
June 1983
Legal precedent in Venezuela
Reforms in Venezuela's Agrarian Courts law have extended the area of authority of judges from forest, land and water to the use or conservation of renewable resources, and threats to the environment. Judges now have powers to take preventive security measures against illegal activities. Such reforms have created a special "agro-environment" jurisdiction which is new not only to Venezuelan law but also to Latin America. The Environment Ministry last year decreed special farming zones in three states to protect fertile soils from developers and also decreed green belts around certain cities.
World Environment Report
28 February 1983
MONSOON FLOODING IN NEPAL: new efforts to study Himalayan ecosystems
