NATIONAL AND REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

NATIONAL AND REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

This section describes selected national and regional institutions with international programmes bearing on forest genetic resources.

1) Central America and Mexico Coniferous Research Cooperative (CAMCORE)

  • The private organizations have been able to directly effect the development of genetic resources by the cooperative efforts.
  • It has sponsored collection for some 30 Central American and Mexican conifer and angiosperm species. From the collections, seeds are processed, stored and distributed to cooperating agencies for establishing conservation stands and provenance and progeny tests.
  • Main aim is to prevent reduction & loss of germplasm.
2) Centre Agronomics Tropical De Investigation Ensenanza (CATIE)
  • The member countries are Central American and Latin American ones like Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
  • Working for the renewal of natural resources by the renewable natural resources development which has four programmes: agroforestry, silviculture, wild lands and watershed management. It also works on ex-situ conservation.
3) Canadian International Development Agency and International Development Research Centre
  • Headquarters in Canada.
  • It finances various projects which work for forestry research in developing countries.
4) Centre Technique Forestier Tropical (CTFT)
  • It is a department of French foreign assistance agency.
  • It works for 12 francophone sub-Saharan African countries and French Guiana and New Caledonia.
  • It also works for selected species like: Eucalyptus spp, Pinus caribaea, Pinus kesiya, Terminalia superba, T. ivorens, Tectona grandis, Gmelina arborea, Cedrela odorata, Cordia alliodora, Acacia mangium, A. auriculiformis, A. albida and A. senegal. It works for these species in all aspects - silviculture, breeding, conversion and utilization, and ex-situ conservation.
5) Commonwealth Scientific and Industries Research Organization (CSIRO)
  • Headquarters in Canberra, Australia.
  • Key programmer on Australian forest tree resources is Tree Seed Centre, where the centre collects and distributes high quality and source identified seeds of commercially promising Australian woody plants for research purposes, provides professional advice on the choice of species and seed supply, and provides technical information on species of value.
6) Danish Forest Seed Centre (DFSC)
  • Headquarters in Humleback, Denmark.
  • Most of the activities are taking place in developing countries, primarily in South-East Asia and Central America.
  • Major activity is in handling, storage and distribution of seed collected within FAO/IBPGR/UNEP projects on genetic resources of arid and semi-arid zone arboreal species for improvement of rural living.
7) Oxford Forestry Institute (OFI)
  • Based in United Kingdom
  • Formerly it was known as ‘Commonwealth Forestry Institute’.
  • It is a world centre for research and development. It is working for the establishment of international provenance testing projects for some 50 species in Central America and parts of Africa. The project covers - exploration, taxonomy, collection, seed storage, distribution, conservation and development of genetic improvement strategies for a number of tropical species- Pinus caribaea, P. oocarpa, P. tecunumanii, P. patula, P. kesiya, P. merkusii, P. greggii, Agattiis spp., Cupressus spp., Widdringtonia spp., Cedrela spp., Cordia alliodora, Liquidambar styracifua, Leucaena spp., Prosopis spp. and Acacia spp., etc.
8) U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and State Programmes
  • The activities of the U.S. department of Agriculture’s Forest service include research and genetic improvement programs conducted in national forests.
  • Research is primarily aimed at species of high commercial value, but there is growing emphasis on maintaining the diversity of forests.
  • Individual states have independent conservation programmes. Conifer germplasm conservation project is designated to provide information and resources needed for long term protection of the diversity of forests. It is working on Pinus taeda, P. ponderosa, Pseudotsuga spp., etc.
9) NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE FOR AGROFORESTRY (NRCAF)
  • Its head quarter is in Jhansi, UP, India
  • To under take basic and applied research for developing and delivering technologies based on sustainable agroforestry prctices on farms, marginal and wastelands for different agroclimatic zones in INDIA
  • To co-ordinate network research with the SAUs/ ICAR Institutes/ other related research institutes for identifying technologies which can be transferred from one region to another.
  • To provide training in (a) research methodologies and (b) use and application of technologies developed at various levels.
  • To develop technological packages of diffrent agroforestry practices for various agroclimatological zones for transfer to farm field and wastelands.
  • To act as repository of information on the subject.
  • To collaborate with relevent national and international agencies for achieving the mandate.
  • To provide consultancy.
10) INDIAN GRASSLAND AND FODDER RESEARCH INSTITUTE (IGFRI)
  • Based in Jhansi, UP, India
  • To conduct basic, strategic, applied and adaptive research; development and training in forage production and it's utilization.
  • Is the premier R&D institution in South Asia for sustainable agriculture through quality forage production for improved animal productivity.
Last modified: Monday, 16 January 2012, 5:26 AM