The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR)
and
Planta Europa: an opportunity for synergies.
L. Maggioni, N. Maxted and J. Engels
PDF file (144KB).
The ECPGR, an example of cooperation for crop genetic resources in Europe. L. Maggioni
PDF file (0.2MB).
(From: Proceedings of an international workshop: Strengthening policy and institutional
frameworks for conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. National programmes and networks as
strategic tools.
1 – 10 October 2002, Zschortau – Germany)
About ECPGR
The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) (formerly "European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks - ECP/GR) was founded in 1980 on the basis of the recommendations of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Genebank Committee of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA).
ECPGR is a collaborative Programme among most European countries, aimed at facilitating
the long-term conservation on a cooperative basis and the increased utilization of plant genetic
resources in Europe. The Programme, which is entirely financed by the
participating countries and is coordinated by a Secretariat at
Bioversity International,
operates through broadly focused Networks dealing with groups of crops or general themes related to
plant genetic resources.
ECPGR is guided by a Steering Committee.
Objectives
Established for ECPGR by its Steering Committee during its seventh meeting in 1998 (report available to download [here]), and reconfirmed during the subsequent meetings, the objectives of ECPGR are:
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To facilitate the long-term in situ and ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources in Europe
To facilitate the increased utilization of plant genetic resources in Europe
To strengthen links between all plant genetic resources programmes in Europe and promote the integration of countries that are not members of ECPGR
To encourage cooperation between all stakeholders, including NGOs and private breeders
To increase the planning of joint activities including the development of joint project proposals to be submitted to funding agencies
To encourage the sharing of conservation responsibilities for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) in Europe
To increase awareness, at all levels, of the importance of PGRFA activities including conservation and sustainable use
To seek collaboration with other relevant regional and global initiatives
Priorities for Phase VII
During the Ninth Steering
Committee meeting (Turkey, 2003), a new prioritizing mechanism was established, to enable priorities
and actions to be defined for each subsequent Phase.
Four main issues were endorsed as future ECPGR priorities for Phase VII:
Characterization and evaluation (including use of modern technologies)
Task sharing
In situ and On-farm conservation
Documentation and Information
Timeframe and budget (Phase VII)
In January 2004, ECPGR entered into Phase VII (2004-2008).
A budget of nearly
2.2 million euro was approved by the Steering Committee.
The Programme is entirely funded by the member countries paying
annual contributions based on the United Nations scale of assessment.
The ECPGR budget is mainly dedicated to coordination and Network operations
(i.e. meetings, publications, ad hoc actions), while the Working Group members
carry out agreed activities with their own resources as an input in kind.
In November 2004, the ECPGR Steering Committee agreed on the Networks’ budget allocation (310KB PDF file).
Participating members
As of May 2008, the 40 member countries contributing to the ECPGR Programme are:
Albania* |
Germany* |
Norway* |
* Countries that signed their membership for Phase VII (2004-2008)
Contact details for the National Coordinators can be found [here].
Associated countries
The following countries have not formally joined ECPGR yet, but have nominated Focal Persons for collaboration with the Programme: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, the Russian Federation and the Ukraine. Contact details for the Focal Persons can be found [here].
International context and interactions
Bioversity International currently provides the Coordinating Secretariat to ECPGR. The Programme also interacts with other bodies, programmes or collaborative projects addressing plant genetic resources, such as the European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture (ESCORENA), the Genetic Resources Programme of the EU (Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004, repealing (EC) No 1467/94) and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
The European meeting on Plant Genetic Resources held in Nitra, Slovakia, September 1995, recommended that ECPGR be used as a platform to facilitate the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the European region as part of the FAO Global System on Plant Genetic Resources.
Structure and modus operandi
The networking structure of the Programme, adopted in Nitra (1995) was reaffirmed by the
Steering Committee in the following meetings, consisting of
National Coordinators nominated by participating countries. The Programme operates through Networks
in which activities are carried out either in the framework of Working Groups or as ad hoc actions.
An organigram of the operational structure of ECPGR during the second half of Phase VII (2006-2008) can be
found [here].
National Coordinators (NC)
The Member Countries of ECPGR are represented by "National Coordinators" (NC) who represent their respective countries within ECPGR on behalf of the respective Ministries. They are responsible for coordination of all ECPGR-related activities within the Member Countries as well as between the respective country and the ECPGR Coordinating Secretariat, presently hosted by Bioversity International.
The National Coordinators are responsible for nominating members to represent their country’s interest in the various Working Groups and in other ECPGR groups and task forces. They are expected to maintain close contact with their country Working Group members to monitor progress and identify potential problems with ongoing work. They nominate the National Inventory Focal Point, responsible for the creation and/or the development and/or the coordination at national level of PGR inventories. The National Inventory Focal Persons are expected to ensure the appropriate flow of data to the European catalogue, EURISCO. Their role is essentially technical, but they are also expected to give clearance for the on-line publication of country passport data.
It is the responsibility of the National Coordinators to obtain necessary governmental commitment to the Programme in general and, more particularly, to take steps to obtain the support required by the national institutes to allow them to contribute to the implementation of the Programme through active participation and through contributions in kind (maintenance of databases, maintenance of collections, collecting, etc.) which are the basis of the success of the Programme.
The National Coordinators may also delegate part of their tasks to subsidiary bodies which provide technical support, so called "technical National Coordinators" or "technical National Focal Persons", as appropriate.
Steering Committee (SC)
The Steering Committee (SC), consisting of the National Coordinators (NC), is responsible for guiding the ECPGR Programme. The European Commission (EC) is invited to nominate a representative as full member of this Committee. Bioversity International, EuroMAB (Man and the Biosphere Programme), EUCARPIA, the European Seed Association (ESA), FAO, the Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) and one Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) representative are invited as observers. See: Observers in the SC.
The SC holds the overall responsibility of the Programme, it approves its budget and provides overall technical and policy guidance to the operations of the Programme. The SC reviews the progress made by the Working Groups and other groups within the Networks or other ad hoc actions, taking decisions regarding their general scope and the establishment or termination of Working Groups. It approves and provides guidelines for ad hoc activities. It mandates the Coordinating Secretariat to carry out its decisions.
The SC meets twice during a five-year Phase (during years 3 and 5). Between meetings, the SC makes use of a dedicated listserver to communicate and take management decisions. All decisions are taken by unanimity.
An organigram of the interaction of National Programmes with the Networks and the Steering Committee can be found [here].
Coordinating Secretariat
The Coordinating Secretariat is currently provided by
Bioversity International as appointed by the Steering Committee.
The responsibilities of the Coordinating Secretariat are:
To ensure the implementation of the Programme in accordance with the mandate given by the SC
To coordinate the activities carried out in the framework of the Programme
To be responsible for the financial management of the Programme
To provide progress reports on a regular basis
To provide technical and financial reports to the SC for approval
To provide support to WGs and ensure that the agreed workplans are carried out
To provide support to NCGs and, where necessary, to assist in preparing evaluation on Network activities and the formulation of workplans and priorities
To initiate ad hoc activities in accordance with guidance provided by the SC
To gather and distribute information
To assist in the formulation of project proposals for joint activities
To search for donors to support particular elements of workplans and ad hoc activities
To provide a link with other regions
To contribute to raising public awareness about the Programme and its activities
To undertake any further activity as agreed mutually with the SC
Networks
The Networks are broad organizational structures that accommodate
different types of activities contributing to the general objectives of the Programme. They are the structural
elements through which progress of the Programme is reported and priorities are set.
The Networks are crop or theme oriented.
The budget allocation (254KB PDF file) for Networks’ activities during Phase VII was agreed by the
ECPGR Steering Committee
in November 2004.
Network Coordinating Groups (NCG)
The Network Coordinating Groups (NCG)
are groups of maximum 5-7 people, established within each Network (crop and thematic) and composed of
the Working Group or Task Force leaders plus a number of other coopted Network members.
The NCGs are coordinated by a Network Coordinator, selected by the Group among its
members and with the task of delivering the NCG outputs to the ECPGR Secretariat and to the
ECPGR Steering Committee. In order to ensure proper functioning of the NCGs, the Group members
will have to commit part of their time to this coordinating task.
The responsibilities of the Network Coordinating Groups are:
To formulate proposals, in consultation with WGs, or in the case of thematic networks other active groups, for the attention of the SC on WG priorities and activities, following the planning and prioritizing mechanism established by the SC
To define the WGs to remain prioritized during the 5-year Phase, according to the planning and prioritizing mechanism established by the SC
Working Groups (WG)
The Working Groups (WG) focus their activity on specific crops,
crop groups or thematic areas. They are initiated following the approval of the Steering Committee.
ECPGR provides funding for the organization of WG meetings, the publication of the resulting
reports and/or other actions, as proposed by the NCGs and approved by the SC, according to the
available budget.
Working Group Members represent the country’s interest in the genetic
resources activities that the WG focuses on. Each WG is coordinated by a Chair and a Vice-Chair
elected by the WG.
Each country is assigned a quota of funded participants to attend WG meetings organized by
ECPGR in the entire Phase. When the country has exhausted its quota, it will still be possible
for it to send self-funded participants to meetings of interest.
In addition to the quota assigned to each country, a quota is assigned to the Working Group
Chairs to allow each prioritized WG to maximally benefit from the available expertise on
that crop in the European region. The WG Chair quota allows the Chair of each individual WG to
invite one additional expert from one of the ECPGR member countries to each WG meeting.
WG members and other scientists from participating countries carry out an agreed workplan with
their own resources as inputs in kind to the Programme.
The Groups’ activities are based on crop-specific European databases, managed by one of the participating institutes. These databases have the dual role of providing users with information on the germplasm maintained in Europe, and providing the Groups with a tool allowing them to take informed decisions and make recommendations regarding the management of national collections (priority setting, rationalization, safety-duplication, etc.).
Current activities of the Working Groups should aim at completion of these databases and should focus on the priority areas (mentioned above) endorsed by the SC as future ECPGR priorities for Phase VII.
A high level of activity is ensured by the establishment of detailed workplans during the meetings and intensive interaction between the Secretariat, the Working Group’s Chair and Vice-Chair and its members between meetings.
Institutes collaborating with ECPGR
ECPGR maintains strong links with many partners across the region. This collaboration between individuals, institutes and countries provides the basis for the active conservation and sustainable use of crop genetic resources in the region. More information on these partners may be obtained from the Collaborating organizations Web page.
ECPGR Structure
Standardized reporting format to the Steering Committee
Networks’ budget allocation for Phase VII (254KB PDF file)
Country quota for Phase VII (64KB PDF file)
ToRs for the ECPGR operational bodies (63KB PDF file)
ECPGR Brochure
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IPGRI and INIBAP
operate under the name Bioversity International.