THE NORDIC COMMITMENT - REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION ON PLANT GENETIC-RESOURCES

In 1979, when the Nordic Genebank was founded time was running short a nd Nordic germplasm of agricultural and horticultural crops was disapp earing mi an accelerating rate. Today the ex situ collection includes about 30,000 seed accessions, consisting of local and modern varieties , landraces, collected material and genetic stocks. Through its region al networks the Nordic Genebank co-ordinates all activities concerning conservation, use and information of genetic resources in the Nordic countries, thereby providing support to the research and breeding comm unity. The international engagement of the genebank is both at the Eur opean (European Go-operative Programme on Crop Genetic Resources Netwo rks, the Baltic slates) and the international level (FAO, Southern Afr ica). Routine laboratory techniques include in vitro cultivation of ve getatively propagated species while contemporary methods are increasin gly gaining importance in the work of characterising genetic variabili ty. The Nordic Genebank is committed to continue its endeavour of cons erving and providing plant genetic resources for the sake of World foo d production and sustainable use of wild habitats.