Activities in 2009 – 2010

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

• Access and rights to forest genetic resources at risk? NordGen intends to explore 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, and the project will be concluded with a conference in 2010. Financing awaits a final decision by the Nordic Council of Ministers during January 2009.
• 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, which is now in the final stage of the third five-year period. NordGen wishes to initiate a discussion on how the European co-operation on genetic resources of forest trees could be maintained beyond 2009.
• 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.