The National Genebank in Sweden is responsible for conservation of vegetatively-propagated plant species.

By signing and ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the Nordic countries have also committed themselves to developing national programs for managing plant genetic resources in food and agriculture as well as their wild relatives. 

Each program has a national coordinator. The coordinators participate in NordGen’s network of working groups. NordGen and the national programmes work very closely with each other. The main task of NordGen is to work for the benefit of the Nordic region and promote Nordic synergies, and to enable cooperation and coordination where this is required. 

 NordGen is responsible for and pays for preserving seed-propagated plant species, while the preservation of vegetatively-propagated plant species is paid for and carried out at a national level. This is where the national programmes play their greatest role, for example, through inventories and collections of plant material and the establishment and maintenance of national gene banks and clonal archives. 

For more information on the national programs in the Nordic countries, please contact the national coordinator:

Denmark: Birgitte Lund, The Danish Agricultural Agency

Finland: Elina Kiviharju, Luke

Iceland: Snorri Baldursson, The Agricultural University of Iceland

Norway: Linn Borgen Nielsen, NIBIO

Sweden: Jens Weibull, Swedish Board of Agriculture