Activities in 2011-2012

The working group for genetic resources has approved a workplan consisting of six points:

• Access and rights to forest genetic resources at risk? NordGen has explored the implications of recent developments in international legislation (e.g. Patent Law) for access and rights to forest genetic resources in the Nordic region, and how the present non-bureaucratic access can be maintained in the future. The Fridtjof Nansen Institute is our collaborative partner. A short version of the main report will be made in this period, intended for the management and commercial part of forestry.
• Collection of ash seeds. A new disease has caused decline of ash in large parts of Europe, and NordGen has taken the initiative to collect ash seeds from a number of populations across the Nordic region to conserve genetic variation for the future. Seeds will eventually be stored at Alnarp. NordGen will also contribute to initiation of more research on the ash decline.
• Evaluate seed storage at Svalbard. Svalbard Global Seed Vault is intended for conservation of genetic diversity in food crops, but in connection with climate change for example, evaluation will be made as to whether forest tree seeds should also be conserved at Svalbard, and for which tree species this might be possible and desirable.
• Climate change and genetic resources. Discuss and propose means on how the Nordic countries should act to conserve the genetic resources in a changing climate. The outputs from the Paris conference in 2006 on the issue ( http://www.bioversityinternational.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=1216 ) are an important reference.
• EUFORGEN and the Nordic countries. EUFORGEN ( http://www.euforgen.org ) is the European programme for conservation of forest genetic resources, and NordGen wishes to be a place for discussion of inputs to EUFORGEN, and how decisions made at the European level can be brought down to the Nordic and national levels.
• Information. Information work is highly prioritised by NordGen. The web pages are the most important channel, but also publications, meetings and conferences are important components.