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Phase 1: Springboard for sustainabilityThe upgrading exercise is being conducted in two Phases. In 2003, SGRP working closely with the individual CGIAR Centres and under the guidance of the CGIAR Centre Directors General prepared and submitted a proposal to the World Bank for an immediate investment to address the most pressing upgrading needs. Each Centre and SINGER identified and costed capital items and technical activities necessary to address shortcomings and backlogs in essential conservation operations over a three-year period. Priority was given to providing equipment, staff and funds to bring operations up to standard and making the plant collections accessible to users. All eleven Centres hosting genebanks participated in Phase 1 which can report the following achievements:
Phase 1 has demonstrated the impact of investment in improving the security and safety backup of global public goods, improving their availability, and promoting their use. The Project underwent a mid-term external review which reported in December 2005. The review considered the Project to be well designed and managed and, on the whole, very successful. It recommended a second phase to complete the measures to secure the CGIAR in-trust collections, and position the CGIAR to undertake a leading role in designing and implementing a crop-based global conservation and use system.
Phase 2: Consolidation, research and leadershipThe Project’s second phase builds on the collaborative effort that made Phase 1 so successful. Once again, CGIAR Centres have worked together to propose a shared programme of work that will further strengthen their capacity to manage the in-trust collections in accordance with the International Treaty and as the core of a global system for conservation and use. The proposal “Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System: Phase 2” was submitted to the World Bank which, in September 2006, approved funding of US$10.46 million. Phase 2 will be implemented over a three year period starting in January 2007. The design of Phase 2 focuses on measures to improve the quality, security, accessibility and sustainability of the in-trust collections, and to optimize the CGIAR’s contribution to global conservation and use activities. Find out more about the proposed project Outputs and Outcomes. The end of Phase 2 will see more than:
The quality of and access to information on the collections will be improved and ordering of germplasm by users through SINGER streamlined. The collective experience of the Centre genebanks will be applied to documenting and developing risk assessment, safety-backup, plant health and performance measurement procedures to enhance genebank management. Attention will be given to improving conservation techniques for problem clonal materials, to rationalize the management of crop collections held in common among Centres, and disseminating best practices to partners in order to raise genebanking standards worldwide. The overall scope of Phase 2 will be broader than Phase 1, with projected outputs covering a number of strategic areas. Thus, the Project will include strategic planning for training national programme partners, and for enhancing the CGIAR’s capacity for genetic resources research. With a view to optimizing the CGIAR Centres’ contributions to work on the breadth of agrobiodiversity, scoping studies will be carried out on genetic and genomic collections, microbial, fungal, insect and nematode collections, and underutilized plant species. Finally, the Project will analyse the elements and functions of an integrated global system for crop genetic resources conservation and use. It will promote such a system, with the CGIAR genebanks at the core and the CGIAR providing leadership, vision and skills to realise that vision.
Proposed project Outputs and Outcomes Below are the proposed Outputs and Outcomes of the project "Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System: Phase 2" Output 1: Uniform risk management procedures developed and implemented in all CGIAR genebanks Outcome 1: The CGIAR Centres meet the commitments made in the in-trust agreements regarding security, and provide an example and guidance to partners on risk management These will be delivered through activities to upgrade genebank facilities, to process accessions into storage to agreed standards and to safety backup, to improve storage procedures for clonal crops, and to implement and promote systematic risk management. Output 2: Best practices for genebank management developed and implemented in the CGIAR Centres and made available to partners Outcome 2: The in-trust collections are more effectively and efficiently managed according to agreed and promoted best practices These will be delivered through activities to refine and disseminate best practices for collection conservation and use, including germplasm health, to develop and implement inventory management systems, and to develop and disseminate decision-support tools to enhance the cost-effectiveness of collection management. Output 3: Unified protocols for locating and delivering germplasm, and for sharing information on common crops in place at all CGIAR genebanks Outcome 3: Users have safer and more effective and efficient access to the in-trust collections These will involve the development of a collaborative platform to support best practices in safe movement of germplasm, the design and implementation of a one-stop entry point for information on and ordering from the in-trust collections, and the design and implementation of harmonized registries for crops held in common by the Centres and other genebanks. Output 4: Strategies and tools for enhancing knowledge on the diversity held in the in-trust collections Outcome 4: Increased understanding of the diversity in the in-trust collections renders them more useful to Centre breeding programmes and to partners These will be delivered through activities to enhance the quality of information available on the collections, assessment of gaps in diversity and genetic quality, and subsequent crop diversity studies. Output 5: Recommendations for the wider involvement of the CGIAR genebanks in addressing genetic and genomic stocks, associated biodiversity and underutilized species Outcome 5: Coherent strategies and plans are in place for more effective conservation and use of genetic and genomic stocks, associated biodiversity and underutilized species in achievement of CGIAR System and Centre objectives These involve activities that look beyond the current in-trust collections to develop an inventory of genetic and genomic collections and develop related management procedures, to survey available microbial, fungal, insect and nematode collections and analyse the CGIAR System’s comparative advantage for involvement therein, and to optimise the System’s contribution to global efforts on underutilized plant genetic resources. Output 6: Mechanisms for improved collective action among the CGIAR genebanks in the delivery of global public goods and promotion of international collaboration on conservation Outcome 6: The CGIAR contribution to the development of a global crop-based conservation and use system is enhanced These will be delivered through activities to manage collective action effectively both during the lifetime of the Project and sustainably into the future, to promote awareness and use of the in-trust collections, to support and monitor the development of a global system and the CGIAR Centres’ performance therein, to enhance the research capacity of the CGIAR System, and to direct the enhancement of human capacity both within the CGIAR System and the wider plant genetic resources community.
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The CGIAR System
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