IUCN SSC Wild Relative Specialist Group

2019 Report

Ehsan Dulloo Nigel Maxted

Co-Chairs Mission statement (25 genetic reserves for the in situ conserva- Ehsan Dulloo (1) The vision of the Specialist tion of CWR populations) outside Europe; (4) Nigel Maxted (2) Group (CWRSG) is the effective conservation establishment of national networks of CWR in and use of crop wild relatives (CWR) and their situ conservation (25 genetic reserves for the in Location/Affiliation increased availability for crop improvement, situ conservation of CWR populations); (5) CWR conservation planning (2,000 plans published). (1) , 42, Swami for the benefit of the environment and human Sivananda Street, Rose-Hill, 71368, Mauritius society worldwide. Policy: improving CWR conservation policy (2) School of Biosciences, University of context (all 16,000 global CWR). Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham Projected impact for the 2017-2020 Act B15 2TT, UK quadrennium Conservation actions: ex situ conservation of CWR diversity in gene banks (1,392 priority CWR By the end of 2020, we hope to have estab- Number of members species conserved). lished a global network of in situ conservation 81 sites to complement current ex situ conserva- tion activities. Our vision is a developing world Activities and results 2019 in which the full potential of crop wild relatives Assess diversity is used to maximise the development Red List of healthy, resilient food systems, where rural i. Global and regional assessments: (1) in 2019, communities/family farmers are recognised we have submitted 92 assessments of global for their sustaining of vital conservation action, priority CWR taxa and an additional seven CWR and where nutritional security is not limited by taxa. By the end of 2019, around 1,000 global climate change or breeders’ access to crop wild priority CWR and a further 150 other CWR taxa relatives diversity. have already been published or assessments were being drafted; (2) at national level, the Targets for the 2017-2020 quadrennium Finnish flora was Red Listed during 2019 and Assess no changes in the assessments of priority CWR Red List: complete threat assessment of 1,400 taxa were observed in comparison to the red global priority CWR taxa (500 new Red List list of 2010; (3) in Spain, an addendum to the assessments). National Red Data Book was published [Moreno Saiz, J.C., Iriondo Alegría, J.M., Martínez García, Plan F., Martínez Rodríguez, J. and Salazar Mendías, Planning: (1) establishment of global networks C. (eds.) (2019). Atlas y Libro Rojo de la Flora of CWR in situ conservation (25 genetic Vascular Amenazada de España. Adenda 2017. reserves for the in situ conservation of CWR Madrid, Spain: Ministerio para la Transición populations); (2) establishment of European Ecológica-Sociedad Española de Biología de la regional networks of CWR in situ conservation Conservación de Plantas.] where two CWR were (25 genetic reserves for the in situ conserva- assessed and included, Allium grosii Font Quer tion of CWR populations); (3) establishment of (Serapio et al. 2019) and Erodium paularense regional networks of CWR in situ conservation Fern. Gonz. & Izco (Iriondo et al. 2019) [Iriondo, J.M., Rebole, R., Lara-Romero, C., Rubio Teso, M.L. and García-Fernández, A. (2019). ‘Erodium paularense Fern. Gonz. & Izco.’ In: Moreno Saiz, cretica Lam. subsp. aegea (Heldr. & Halácsy) Snogerup, M.A.Gust. & Bothmer, a secondary wild relative of broccoli, Brussels sprout, , cauliflower and kale, photographed in Vlora, Albania (2019) Photo: Lorenzo Maggioni

Services: Genetic Resources and Crop Wild Relatives) came to an end. These projects, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and by self-funding from the participating organisations, involved partners from all the Nordic countries. The project activities and results are summarised in a report published by the Nordic Council of Ministers [Palmé, A., Fitzgerald, H., Weibull, J., Bjureke, K., Eisto, K., Endresen, D., Hagenblad, J., Hyvärinen, M., Kiviharju, E., Lund, B., Rasmussen, M. and Þorbjörnsson, H. (2019). Nordic Crop Wild Relative conservation: A report from two collaborative projects 2015–2019. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Council of Ministers.]. Within this project, the Nordic European network of genetic reserves for regionally important CWR was designed and published [Fitzgerald, H., et J.C., Iriondo Alegría, J.M., Martínez García, F., relative species identifies areas globally for in al. (2019). A regional approach to Nordic crop Martínez Rodríguez, J. and Salazar Mendías, situ conservation. Communications Biology 2, wild relative in situ conservation planning. C. (eds.). (2019). Atlas y Libro Rojo de la Flora Article number 136. [DOI: 10.1038/s42003-019- Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Vascular Amenazada de España. Adenda 2017, 0372-z]. (KSR #42) Utilization 17(2):196–207.]. (KSR #42) pp. 52–53. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio para la ii. European regional networks of CWR in situ iii. Regional networks of CWR in situ conser- Transición Ecológica-Sociedad Española de conservation: (1) in 2019, the design of the vation: (1) a Darwin Initiative funded project, Biología de la Conservación de Plantas; Serapio, European network for the in situ conservation Bridging and Environment: Southern J., Vicens, M., Lara-Romero, C. and Iriondo, J.M. of CWR has been initiated and almost African Crop Wild Relative Regional Network (2019). ‘Allium grosii Font Quer.’ In: Moreno finalised within the Farmer’s Pride project (www.cropwildrelatives.org/sadc-cwr-net), Saiz, J.C., Iriondo Alegría, J.M., Martínez García, (www.farmerspride.eu); within this context, initiated in 2019 and will end in 2021; one of F., Martínez Rodríguez, J. and Salazar Mendías, the importance of the Natura 2000 sites the objectives of this project is the estab- C. (eds.). (2019). Atlas y Libro Rojo de la Flora for the conservation of CWR in Europe was lishment of a network of sites for the in situ Vascular Amenazada de España. Adenda 2017, studied and highlighted [Kell, S., Iriondo, J.M., conservation of CWR in the Southern African pp. 82–83. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio para la Tran- Rubio Teso, M.L., Álvarez, C. and Maxted, N. Development Community (SADC). A paper sición Ecológica-Sociedad Española de Biología (2019). ‘Natura 2000 and conservation of plant establishing the priority CWR for conserva- de la Conservación de Plantas.]. (KSR #1) genetic resources for food and agriculture.’ 30 tion in the SADC region was prepared in a Plan years of Eurosite. New approaches to nature previous project (the African, Caribbean and Planning conservation and securing resources. Museo Pacific Group of States (ACP)–European Union della Biodiversità di Monticiano, , 05–07 funded project, SADC Crop Wild Relatives–In i. Global network of CWR in situ conserva- November 2019.]; (2) in 2019 the project Wild Situ Conservation and Use of Crop Wild Rela- tion: the global network of genetic reserves Genetic Resources–A Tool to Meet Climate tives in Three ACP countries of SADC Region, for globally important CWR has been designed Change (a follow-up of the project www.cropwildrelatives.org/sadc-cwr-project) and published, but not yet implemented; see and published in 2019 [Allen, E., et al. (2019). A Vincent, H., et al. (2019). Modeling of crop wild crop wild relative inventory for southern Africa: Ipomoea lactifera J.R.I.Wood & Scotland, a Vulnerable wild relative of sweat , photographed in Yapacani, Bolivia Photo: John RI Wood

A first step in linking conservation and use of and/or published in 2019; (2) in Benin, an MSc associated to these PhD studies; (3) in Belarus, valuable wild populations for enhancing food thesis on ‘Ecogeographic study, modelling of the National Strategy for the Conservation of security. Plant Genetic Resources 17(2):128– favourable habitats and conservation gap for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agricul- 139.], and a paper recommending the sites for 15 species of wild parents of cultivated plants ture was completed in 2019; this document in situ conservation of regional priority CWR priority for conservation in Benin’ was being devotes a section to CWR. In addition, a CWR has been drafted [Magos Brehm, J., et al. (In prepared. In addition, within the frame of the inventory, which includes 668 species, was prep.) Conservation planning of crop wild rela- Regional Academic Exchange for Enhanced prepared and will soon be published; the iden- tive diversity in the SADC region]; (2) priority Skills in Fragile Management in tification of priority CWR was initiated; (4) the sites for the in situ conservation of regionally Africa (REFORM) Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Finnish CWR conservation project, funded by priority CWR in the were iden- Scheme, two PhD students were working on the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, tified in 2019 [Zair, W., et al. (In prep.) Comple- wild relatives of cultivated leafy vegetables was underway in 2019. The main project part- mentarity analysis for crop wild relative in the of Solanum genus: Biodiversity, distribution, ners are the Natural Resources Institute Finland Fertile Crescent]; (3) priority sites for the in situ traditional knowledge and (coun- (Luke), the Finnish Museum of Natural History conservation of wild relatives of trywide assessment of the diversity of leafy (Luomus) and Metsähallitus Parks and Wild- across the Mediterranean Basin and West Asia vegetables’ wild relatives, including distribution life Finland. Several activities were carried out: were identified [Phillips, J., Whitehouse, K., Amri, mapping, local uses of these resources, impor- second iteration of the list of priority CWR, ex A. and Maxted, N. (2019). In situ gap analysis tance in and nutrition reach and situ and in situ conservation planning and inven- of temperate cereal crop wild relatives in their their adaptive strategies in changing climates) torying CWR species in a pilot site (Nuuksio Mediterranean Basin and West Asian centre of and ecogeography and adaptive response to National Park); (5) considerable progress in diversity. Plant Genetic Resources: Characteriza- water and weed stress of Vigna crop wild rela- CWR conservation in Germany was achieved in tion and Utilization 17(2):185–195.]. (KSR #42) tives in Benin (assessment of the environmental 2019, namely the establishment of the German iv. National networks of CWR in situ conser- conditions associated with the diversity of wild Network of Genetic Reserves for CWR conserva- vation: (1) 13 papers regarding CWR conserva- relatives of , assessment of ecophys- tion, the Wild Celery Genetic Reserves Network, tion planning at national level have been drafted iological adaptation strategies in relation to and a list of national priority CWR agreed in a resistance to drought and weeds, namely of the genus Striga). Moreover, four MSc theses were national symposium on genetic reserves: (a) where progress has been made to establish a HOPPEA Denkschriften der Regensburgischen German Network of Genetic Reserves: it was wild grapevine network. The most important Botanischen Gesellschaft. Sonderband 2014.]; established in 2019 as a framework for the in wild grapevine site harbours the only natu- (6) in 2019, a pioneer project in Spain, “Conser- situ conservation of priority CWR. It is coordi- rally rejuvenating wild grapevine population in vación in situ y ex situ de parientes silvestres de nated by the Federal Office for Agriculture and Germany on the Rhine island Ketsch (Nick 2014); los cultivos en la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Food (BLE). The in situ conservation of CWR is (d) in June 2019, the agricultural and nature del Rincón”, was funded by the Consejería de addressed by the German National Agrobiodi- protection sectors (BMEL, BLE, JKI, the Federal Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del Territorio de versity Strategy (BMELV 2007) and the National Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and la Comunidad de Madrid and implemented by Programme for Plant Genetic Resources for other partners) jointly organised the sympo- Banco de Germoplasma Vegetal ‘César Gómez Food and Agriculture (PGRFA; BMEL 2012); (b) sium Genetic Reserves for Wild Plants for Food Campo’, General Directorates of Biodiversidad y Wild Celery Genetic Reserves Network: the and Agriculture – a new module to strengthen Recursos Naturales y de Agricultura, Ganadería first thirteen genetic reserves for wild celery species protection, held at JKI. The results y Alimentación de la Comunidad de Madrid and species were established and further wild of the Wild Celery Genetic Reserves project Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. The main objec- celery genetic reserves are in the process of were presented, as well as results and expe- tive of this project is the implementation of a being established. This network is managed by riences from other comparable projects (e.g. genetic reserve for nationally important CWR; the Julius Kühn-Institut Federal Research Centre wild grapevine, wild fruit trees and grassland (7) in Tanzania, within the Darwin Initiative SADC for Cultivated Plants (JKI). The establishment species). At this symposium, a working list of CWR project (www.cropwildrelatives.org/sadc- of this network was the result of a three-year priority CWR was developed involving experts cwr-net), conservation planning activities were project financed by the German Federal Ministry and the nature conservation sector. This list initiated in order to identify CWR in situ conser- for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and is part of contains 126 taxa of which 44 are considered to vation sites; in Botswana, Comoros, the Demo- the German Network of Genetic Reserves that be of higher priority. [BMELV. (2007). Conser- cratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, has been established in 2019 in Germany as a vation of Agricultural Biodiversity, Develop- and Seychelles, CWR conservation planning framework for in situ conservation of priority ment and Sustainable Use of its Potentials in activities have also started under the mentoring CWR. The in situ conservation of CWR is an Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A Strategy programme implemented via the Darwin Initia- area of PGRFA conservation, which the German of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agri- tive SADC CWR project. (KSR #42) national agrobiodiversity strategy (BMELV 2007) culture and Consumer Protection on Conser- v. CWR Conservation planning: (1) a paper and the National Programme for PGRFA (BMEL vation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity for describing five tools that were developed 2012) clearly address as one important field Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Bonn, to guide and facilitate countries in CWR of action; (c) further CWR specific networks Germany: Federal Ministry of Food, Agricul- national conservation planning and in devel- that will become part of the German Network ture and Consumer Protection; BMEL. (2012). oping National Strategic Action Plans for the of Genetic Reserves are at various stages of National programme for the Conservation and Conservation and Sustainable Use of CWR development. For example, 27 areas (nine Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources was published in 2019 [Magos Brehm, J., et al. fen meadows, nine grass meadows and of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops. Bonn, (2019). New tools for crop wild relative conser- nine calcareous grasslands in southwest Germany: Federal Ministry of Food, Agricul- vation planning. Plant Genetic Resources: Char- Germany–Swabian Alb and Alpine foothills in ture and Consumer Protection; Nick, P. (2014). acterization and Utilization 17(2):208–212.]; (2) Baden-Württemberg) were proposed as genetic ‘Schützen und nützen – von der Erhaltung zur nine papers targeting various aspects of CWR reserves as a result of the project Identifica- Anwendung, Fallbeispiel Europäische Wildrebe.’ conservation planning methodologies were tion and Conservation of Historic Old Grass- In: Poschlod P., Borgmann, P., Listl, D., Reisch, presented or published in several international lands, financed by BMEL. Another example C., Zachgo, S. and das Genbank WEL Netzwerk. conferences and journals, including Global is the series of research projects financed by (eds.) Handbuch Genebank WEL, pp. 159–173. Ecology and Conservation, Genetic Resources BMEL on wild grapevine in the Rhine floodplains and Crop , Crop and Pasture Science, Plant Biology and Land Use Policy. Trifolium alpestre L., a Least Concern tertiary wild relative of red clover with potential to confer pest resistance Wild pictured here on the margins to this crop, photographed in Lithuania in 2015 of a cultivated field in Chilanga, Zambia Photo: Juozas Labokas Photo: Dickson Ng’uni

Policy conserve and use CWR. The project was imple- researchers to obtain production data from i. Improving CWR Conservation policy context: mented in partnership with the Millennium Seed various locations and enables farmers to eval- (1) in 2019, the design of the European network Bank (MSB) of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, uate new material and communicate their for the in situ conservation of CWR has been UK and with dozens of specialist institutes and preferences to scientists. The most promising initiated and its governance structure has been national and international conservation and pre-bred material, and their associated data, will drafted and discussed among major national pre-breeding programmes around the world. be available under the terms of ITPGRFA. Some and regional stakeholders. A stakeholder In 2019, the collecting phase of the project examples include: (a) Alfafa: a CWR-derived consultation document on the Farmer’s Pride concluded. Over 6 years, project partners variety has survived record cold snaps network concept has been drafted which will were in the field for a combined 2,973 days, in in Inner Mongolia and is also drought tolerant. then be shared among national stakeholders 25 countries all over the world, to collect and This variety, Zhongcao No. 3, was released to who are the ultimate implementing agencies of safeguard 4,644 seed samples of 371 different farmers in 2019; the Chinese Academy of Agri- the European network; (2) a policy brief about species of CWR, far exceeding expectations. cultural Sciences (CAAS) is developing a partic- CWR conservation in the Nordic countries Many species were collected multiple times ipatory seed multiplication project with small- has also been prepared [Palmé, A., Asdal, Å., – on different continents, in different coun- holder farmers who will be able to keep, use Endresen, D., Fitzgerald, H., Kiviharju, E., Lund, B., tries and in different regions within a country; and sell the seeds of Zhongcao No. 3 as part of Rasmussen, M., Thorbjörnsson, H. and Weibull, J. capturing and conserving as much diversity a new seed sharing scheme; (b) : Wild (2019). Policy Brief – Crop Wild Relatives: actions as possible both within and among species about (https://www.cwrdiversity.org/ needed to assure conservation of an important was at the core of this global collecting effort. wild-about-bananas/); (c) : Beyond genetic resource. Available at: https://doi. CWR seed samples collected during the project hummus (https://www.cwrdiversity.org/ org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7558658.v1 ]; (3) some were conserved in the national of beyond-hummus/); (d) Cowpea: the Interna- members of the CWRSG have been actively the partner country, and also shipped to Kew’s tional Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) iden- engaged in the drafting of the genetic diversity MSB, and other gene banks, where they will be tified CWR in Africa that have more tolerance goal (Goal C) of the Post-2020 Biodiversity available according to the terms of the Inter- to heat and drought, and resistance to aphids Framework as well as in the Biodiversity national Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for than the domesticated cowpea; they have Indicators Partnership Initiative. (KSR #26) Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Some exam- crossed the best of these CWR with high-per- ples of collecting missions: (a) dispatches forming and evaluated a number of Act from Ecuador, part 1: Searching for Wild Pota- promising climate-smart lines in Nigeria, Burkina Conservation actions toes (https://stories.cwrdiversity.org/story/ Faso and Niger; (e) : initial results i. Ex situ conservation of CWR diversity in gene ecuador1/); (b) dispatches From Ecuador, coming from the International Center for Agri- banks: (1) we don’t have access to global data part 2: Farmers Using CWR (https://stories. cultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) yet; however, we do have information about a cwrdiversity.org/story/ecuador2/); (c) indicate that CWR-derived lines of durum wheat global project (Adapting Agriculture to Climate seed collecting in Pakistan (https://www. are performing better than currently available Change–Collecting and Protecting the Wild cwrdiversity.org/seed-collecting-in-pakistan/). commercial varieties in terms of both yields Relatives of the World’s Most Important Food This CWR project had also a strong pre-breeding and quality; farmers throughout Morocco are Crops to Safeguard our Future Food Security work component and it has brought together currently evaluating this material, and reporting in a Changing Climate) that aimed at collecting more than 100 national and international part- that some lines are drought tolerant; (f) Finger seeds of CWR for ex situ conservation and ners in 49 countries. All projects have strong and grasspea: A boost for pre-Breeding pre-breeding activities. In 2011, the , capacity-building elements and involve both for Grasspea and Finger Millet (https://www. with support from the Government of Norway, North–South and South–South partnerships. croptrust.org/blog/pre-breeding-gets-a-boost/); embarked on a global 10-year project to collect, The work is currently transitioning from creating new materials derived from CWR to actually growing them in farmers’ fields. This allows Wild potato at the Potato Park (Parque de la Papa) in Pisac, Peru Photo: Eve B Allen

(g) Pigeonpea: Evaluation of six pigeonpea Acknowledgements Summary of activities 2019 pre-breeding lines (https://www.cwrdiversity. We would like to give special thanks to the Components of Species Conservation Cycle: 3/5 org/evaluation-of-six-pigeonpea-pre-breeding CWRSG Programme Officer, Joana Magos Assess 1 | -lines/); (h) : Wild relatives of Brehm for compiling this report and to all Plan 6 |||||| pearl millet can take the heat (https://www. CWRSG members who contributed with infor- Act 1 | cwrdiversity.org/wild-relatives-of-pearl-millet- mation, namely Achille Assogbadjo, Axel Died- can-take-the-heat/); (i) Wheat, and : erichsen, Dzmitryieva Safiya, Hannes Dempe- Main KSRs addressed: 1, 26, 42 Selection by stone (https://www.cwrdiversity. wolf, Heli Fitzgerald, Imke Thormann, Jens KSR: Key Species Result org/selection-by-stone/); (j) Pre-breeders go Weibull, José Iriondo, Juozas Labokas, Rodrigue wild in Rabat (https://www.cwrdiversity.org/ Idohou, Rudolf Vögel, and Susanne Sharrock. pre-breeding-workshop/); (2) specifically in We also thank the following donors for providing Canada, and as part of the above-mentioned resources to support conservation planning, project, about 190 accessions of CWR conservation implementation, policy enhance- (Avena) were collected, identified, regenerated ment and threat assessment: United Nations and characterised. The collected material will FAO; ITPGRFA; World Bank; Consultative Group be integrated in the active gene bank collection on International Agricultural Research (partic- of the Canadian national gene bank, Plant Gene ularly Bioversity International); Global Environ- Resources of Canada, and be made available ment Facility; IUCN SSC; European Commis- for distribution to gene bank clients. In addi- sion (including Horizon 2020 Framework tion, the Canadian national gene bank, Plant Programme); European Parliament; European Gene Resources of Canada, collected seeds of Cooperative Programme for Genetic Resources; the weedy/ruderal species Camelina micro- Nordic Council of Ministers; REFORM–the carpa, a wild relative of C. sativa, in the province Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme; Conse- of Saskatchewan; (3) in Belarus, 117 samples jería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del of CWR species were deposited in the national Territorio de la Comunidad de Madrid; national gene bank totalling more than 1,000 samples governments of Belarus, Denmark, Finland, of CWR; (4) in Finland, collecting missions of Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malawi, CWR accessions for ex situ conservation took Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Spain, place in 2019 and the material collected was Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, United Kingdom, conserved at the seedbank of the Finnish Zambia; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; MAVA Museum of Natural History (Luomus). Addi- and Toyota Foundations. And finally, to all the tionally, the national plant genetic resources experts involved in Red Listing who are not programme coordinated by the Natural members of the CWRSG (Alejandro Zuluaga, Ali Resources Institute Finland (Luke) has been Shehadeh, Allan Tye, Ana Planchuelo, Arnoldo conducting surveys, inventories and evalua- Santos Guerra, Evren Cabi, Fernando Patiño, tions in many berry and fruit plants, vegetables, Gianluigi Baccheta, Gianniantonio Domina, hops and herbs; (5) in the Nordic countries, Guillermo Seijo, John Wood, Jonathan Timber- NordGen planned and organised seed sampling lake, José F.M. Valls, Lorenzo Maggioni, Marcelo and collecting missions for forage wild relatives. Simón, Margoth Atahuachi, Miguel A. Carvalho, (KSR #42) Nagib Nassar, Norihiko Tomooka, Panayotis Dimopoulos, Sina Morufu Omosowon, Vaclav Mahelka, and Ximena Cadima).