The Eighth session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources was held in Rome 28–30 June 1993. The Panel reviewed work in the field of forest genetic resources carried out by FAO since the previous Session (Dec. 1989, see FGRI No. 18) and made recommendations for future action. The following is a summary of the meeting; the Report on the Session will be available in English, French and Spanish, in mid 1994.
“The Panel noted with appreciation progress since the last session and recognized the fast, recent developments in the forest genetic resources field, both at the scientific/technical level and at the institutional level. It underlined the need for continued harmonization of activities between the different actors in the field, including FAO, Unesco, UNEP; ITTO, IUCN, WWF; and the three main Centres of the CGIAR which had recently included forestry and forest genetic resources in their work programmes (CIFOR, IBPGR, ICRAF).
The Panel noted the high priority given to forests in general and to forest genetic resources in particular, in the decisions of UNCED (especially Chapters 11, 14 and 15 of Agenda 21; and the Biological Diversity and Climate Conventions), and stressed the need to continue adapting action and programmes to them. It warmly welcomed plans for holding of the 4th Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources planned for 1995, and the plans to include forest genetic resources as an important component of this Conference (including the report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources and the Global Plan of Action; see note on “Survey of National Forest Genetic Resources” page 52).
The Panel passed a number of specific technical and scientific recommendations related to the exploration, collection, testing and evaluation, exchange, conservation in and ex situ, and use of forest genetic resources (including breeding and the use of new biotechnologies in forest tree improvement), and stressed, especially, the need for increased attention to the following activities:
support and technical assistance to national institutes in the development and execution of forest genetic resources programmes and to Tecnical Cooperation between Developing Countries (TCDC) activities;
development of methodologies and pilot activities in the in situ conservation of forest genetic resources coupled with forest management and the sustainable use of the resources to meet present-day needs;
facilitation of contacts within and between regions and facilitation of the exchange of information, know-how and genetic materials for testing and conservation;
international coordination and raising of awareness, through information prepared for various levels and target audiences. In this respect, the need was stressed to continue to prepare and distribute well-focused FAO guides and manuals, and “popular versions” of such documents; special mention was made of the FAO annual newsletter, “Forest Genetic Resources Information”, which was considered an especially useful vehicle for information exchange, contacts and training.
The Panel up-dated the list of priority species by region and activity regularly prepared by it; due to the need to accurately prioritize action in view of the increasing range of species of importance in this field, a separate list was prepared containing those species which the Panel considered should receive maximum attention in FAO coordinated or supported activities. This list was supplemented by a complementary list with priority species by region and activity, assembled based on the experience and contacts of Panel members; the list constitutes the only representative, truly global list of priorities available, of proven value to a number of institutions and fora at both national and international levels.
The Panel recognized the compliance of the Secretariat with its earlier recommendations regarding general trends of FAO Regular Programme (RP) expenditure and areas of work. It recommended that future action continue to give balanced attention to various ecoregional zones, with special reference to the moist and arid/semi-arid tropics. The Panel noted with appreciation the expanding forestry Field Programme related to forest genetic resources programmes and projects, which underlined the importance Member Nations placed on this field, and recognized that such field activities could complement RP activities, which were generally more limited in scope.”
The report of the Session will be available from:
Forest Resources Division
FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla
I-00100 Rome, Italy
Forest Genetic Resources Information no. 21. FAO, Rome (1993)
