UPDATE ►First International Conference onCrop Wild Relative Conservation and Use

NEW►Crop Wild Relative Information System: user needs survey

PGR Forum (European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum) is a Thematic Network funded under the EC Framework 5 Programme for Research, Key action 2 ‘Global change, climate and biodiversity’, 2.2.3 ‘Assessing and conserving biodiversity’.  PGR Forum provides a European forum for the assessment of taxonomic and genetic diversity of European crop wild relatives and the development of appropriate conservation methodologies.

The project brings together 23 partners from 21 countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Romania, Russia, and the United Kingdom, with the addition of partners representing IUCN -The World Conservation Union and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI).  Advisory and Stakeholder Panels provide additional input and feedback on project activities and deliverables.  A broad cross-section of the professional European PGR community is represented, including conservationists, taxonomists, plant breeders, information managers, policy-makers and end-users.  The project duration is 36 months, with a start date of November 1, 2002.

PGR Forum has created an information system providing access to European crop wild relative data (http://www.pgrforum.org/cwris/cwris.asp).  The PGR Forum Crop Wild Relative Information System (CWRIS) includes all socio-economically important species occurring in Europe and the Mediterranean region and their wild relatives; including food, fodder and forage, medicinal plants, condiments, ornamentals, forestry species, as well as plants used for industrial purposes, such as oils and fibres.

PGR Forum has also developed methodologies for:

• The creation of national and regional inventories of CWR

• Assessing threat and conservation status of CWR

• Undertaking CWR conservation gap analysis

• Establishing conservation priorities for CWR

• Management of CWR data, with a particular emphasis on site and population data

• In situgenetic population management and monitoring of CWR

• Genetic erosion and genetic pollution assessment

PGR Forum’s work programme has been implemented through a series of five interrelated workpackages and associated workshops: 1) European crop wild relative assessment, 2) threat and conservation assessment, 3) in situdata management methodologies, 4) population management methodologies, and 5) genetic erosion and genetic pollution methodologies.  An additional workpackage coordinates thematic network product dissemination and exploitation, and the final dissemination conference.  See the project themes page for further information.

Arnica montana

Photographer: Kerstin Olsson

Courtesy of the Nordic Gene Bank Photo Archive

Conserving Europe's plant genetic resources for use now and in the future

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