INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES WORKING IN THE AREAS OF FOREST CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH

1) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

  • The headquarters is in Rome (Italy)
  • It plays an important role in coordinating and implementing forestry genetic resources policy within its overall aim of providing technical assistance.
  • Emphasis is paid, in technical terms, on the use of multipurpose species. The species in the arid and semi-arid regions of developing countries are given priority as they are subjected to high human and biotic stress.
  • Efforts are done to explore, use and conserve gene resources of forest trees. In this regard increased attention has been paid to in situ conservation as a desirable complement to various forms of ex situ conservation.
  • It disseminates the information on forest tree seed supplies, seed collection, handling, storage, testing and certification. The organization and results of international provenance trials and various aspects of the conservation and use of genetic resources, through a newsletter, Forest Genetic Resources Information.
2) The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR)
  • The headquarters is in Rome (Italy).
  • It is an international scientific centre of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR).
  • It is working on agricultural crops, forest species, particularly fuel wood species, for their conservation and improvement.
3) International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)
  • Established in 1977. Its headquarters is in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Established as an international scientific centre devoted to improving the nutritional, economic and social well-being of people in developing countries by promoting agroforestry system for enhanced use of the land without degrading the environment.
  • It acts as a catalyst for agroforestry research, training and information dissemination.
4) International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)
  • Its headquarters is in Yokohama, Japan.
  • The purpose of ITTO is to provide an effective frame work for cooperation and consultation between tropical timber producing and consuming countries regarding all aspects of the tropical timber economy.
  • Its major activity related to forest genetic resources involves funding of projects directed at the conservation and sustainable use of tropical forests.
5) International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)
  • Its headquarters is in Gland, Switzerland.
  • It is a unique international agency as it is constituted with both governmental and non-governmental membership.
  • It is concerned with species level conservation and has paid increasing attention to plant genetic resources.
  • It produces the IUCN plant Red data book, a series that gives detailed case histories on rare and threatened plants in all parts of the world; for each species, data are given on conservation status, threats to survival, distribution and habit, together with a short description and an evaluation of its interest or potential value to humankind.
  • It has a World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) located at Cambridge, UK for data storage and processing and also provides information on international trade in endangered plants and animals.
6) International Union of Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO)
  • Its headquarters is situated in Vienna, Austria.
  • It coordinates and assists scientists participating in programmes. It has placed strong emphasis on industrial species and works on provenance testing, progeny testing and breeding of specific species. It is also working on conservation and on population genetics for the species of temperate zone and Mediterranean conifers, as well as Quercus spp., Eucalyptus spp., Populus spp.
7) United Nations Environment Programme
  • Its headquarters is in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • It is an agency of United Nations.
  • It works with various governments, other UN organizations and non-govt. organizations around the globe to monitor the state of global environment. Much of the UNEP’s work is aimed at promoting public awareness of the importance of genetic diversity and methods of conserving and managing that diversity for the future.
8) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
  • Its headquarters is in Paris, France.
  • UNESCO’s involvement in gene conservation is primarily through its MAB Programme (Man and Biosphere Programme)
  • The objectives of MAB are to establish project areas based on ecosystem concept (including human activity) to conserving representative ecosystems with zoned management to developing biosphere reserves that conserve biological diversity and its genetic resources.
9) Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR).
  • Its secretariat is located in Washington DC, USA.
  • It was established to help coordinate the efforts of developed and developing countries, public and private institutes and international and regional organizations to support a network of 13 international agricultural research centers.
Last modified: Monday, 16 January 2012, 5:23 AM