In order to ensure the preservation of biodiversity, it is important not only in the gene bank and in field collections, but also in natural habitats (in situ).
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Genetic Resources Commission has recommended that countries draw up action plans toconserve wild relatives of folk varieties and cultivated plants in situ. The same recommendation was made in the mid-term evaluation of the ‘Collection and conservation of crop genetic resources for 2014-2020’ programme (2017). The first stage of drawing up the action plan is the establishment of lists of species to be preserved.
The priority given to the conservation of wild related species of cultivated plants depends on the endemic nature, status, distribution, level of risk of the species, as well as on their use in the production and plant breeding of cultivated plant species of the same genus and on their importance as food and feed plants.
The project looked at both food and feed crops, as well as the most common herbs, medicinal and ornamental plants.
The field work on the project to observe the sites of plant growth, the analysis of the information in the plant distribution atlas and the first selection of species were carried out by the NGO Society for the Protection of Heritage Communities. In addition to Toomas Kuke, a member of the association, Külli Annamaa, head of the gene bank of the Estonian Crop Research Institute, and Rene Aavola, a grassplant breeder, participated in the preparation of the prioritized list.
During the first phase of the project, a consolidated list of wild relative species of cultivated plants was drawn up, in which species were taken in which at least one cultivated plant or potential cultivated plant is known to be grown in Estonia. There are 144 species on the consolidated list.
In the second phase, the development of an action plan for the preservation of which is of paramount importance was defined on the basis of the criteria for prioritisation (possible usability of the plant as a food or feed plant, economic importance, plant rarity and endangerment in Estonia) and species included in annex 1 to the International Agreement on Crop Genetic Resources.
88 species were selected from the consolidated list, from which an Estonian prioritized list of wild related species of cultivated plants was drawn up. Click here to open thefile.
The prepared lists are the first stage in drawing up an Estonian action plan for the conservation of wild relative species of cultivated plants. According to the concept drawn up by the European Cooperation Programme on Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), a gap analysis method will be applied in the preparation of the national strategy to determine the representation of species on the prioritised list in situ and ex situ conservation in Estonia.