[PCA] ACTION REQUEST: Roadmap to Crop Wild Relatives: Call for Input

[Prescott, Leah]

The DRAFT Des Moines Roadmap on Plant Conservation, Use, and Public
Engagement will be shared and workshopped at theCelebrating Crop Diversity
Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, April 2-4. The Roadmap aims to create a high
level and succinct strategic framework for working together for crop wild
relatives and wild utilized plants. Crop wild relatives and their genetic
resources are essential to our common future. Achieving comprehensive
conservation, use and public awareness of crop wild relatives in North
America requires shared goals and collaborative effort across institutions,
disciplines, and countries. A clear road map will help us reach our
destination of secure crop wild relatives.



This is where we need your input! As experts and engaged colleagues we are
seeking broad input from people active in the field.



*Call to action 1:* Please REVIEW the below DRAFT Des Moines Roadmap on
Plant Conservation, Use, and Public Engagement.



*Call to action 2: *Have your voice heard! Please provide your input by
completing this survey from the University of British Columbia

https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eOSunZNrZgDKx25



We estimate that it will take only 20 minutes to review the Roadmap and
complete the survey. The survey will be open until Feb 28th, 2019.  The
input gathered will be reviewed by the working group and updates will be
presented in April at the Celebrating Crop Diversity Symposium.



If you have specific questions about the Roadmap please contact Tara Moreau
(tara.moreau at ubc.ca) or Colin Khoury (c.khoury at cgiar.org).



We are grateful for your input!


The Des Moines Road Map on Plant Conservation, Use, and Public Engagement:

Uniting Conservationists, Scientists, and Educators Around North America’s
Crop Wild Relatives and Wild Utilized Plants

DRAFT VERSION FOR INPUT Feb 12, 2019


THE NEED: Increasing the productivity, sustainability, and nutritional
quality of our food systems is essential to nourishing humanity for the
long term. Mitigating the profound losses of biodiversity sweeping the
world is vital to a future that we want to live in. These needs converge
with crop wild relatives - the wild cousins of agricultural plants - which
have tremendous value to crop productivity, sustainability, and nutrition
through plant breeding. These needs also apply to wild utilized plant
species, which continue to provide food and a variety of other ecosystem
and cultural services to humanity. Many of these useful wild plants are
threatened in their natural habitats and are not well represented in
conservation repositories. Urgent conservation attention is required if
they are to contribute to our shared future.


THE OPPORTUNITY: North America has a rich flora of wild relatives of food
and agricultural crops - wild apples, beans, blueberries, chili peppers,
corn, cotton, grapes, hops, onions, pumpkins, sunflowers, and many more.
These natural resources can provide important and useful improvements to
our domesticated species. The region is also home to a diversity of
significant wild utilized plants, such as sugar maple and wild rice.
Unfortunately, these useful wild plants are poorly represented in regional
genebanks, botanical gardens, and other ex situ repositories, and many are
threatened in their natural habitats. Identifying and addressing
conservation gaps, facilitating their use in plant breeding, and raising
the collective awareness of the value of these plants as well as the
threats to their survival all require partnerships across plant
conservation, land management, agricultural science, and botanical
education and outreach organizations.


Our collective as well as individual actions in recent years have brought
us to the point where we are institutionally and scientifically prepared to
embark on an ambitious effort to comprehensively conserve, make available,
and raise awareness about the importance of crop wild relatives and wild
utilized plants of North America. Key conservation, land management,
agricultural research, and botanical garden institutions in North America
are eager to take up the challenge of maximizing the contribution of native
wild species to food and nutrition security and to sustainable agriculture,
thus helping to fulfill important agriculture, biodiversity conservation,
and sustainable development commitments. Public genebanks make crop
diversity accessible to scientists and plant breeders around the world.
Land management agencies are responsible for large portions of North
America, and almost 1000 botanical and public gardens are located across
the region, educating local visitors and performing important conservation,
research, and public awareness activities. Collaborations across these
institutions are growing, including for important crop wild relatives such
as wild chili peppers, cranberries, and sunflowers. A variety of existing
institutional frameworks and agreements facilitate initiatives between
these organizations and across borders.




THE DES MOINES ROAD MAP: To accomplish our goals, we must act soon, and we
must work together. We endorse an ambitious regional initiative built on
partnerships between plant conservation, land management, agricultural
science, and botanical education and outreach organizations to take
collective action to 1) understand and document North America’s crop wild
relatives and wild utilized plants, 2) collect and conserve their
diversity, 3) make their diversity accessible for plant breeding, research,
and education, 4) protect threatened species in their natural habitats, and
5) raise public awareness of their value and the threats to their
persistence. Through our collective network we endorse these five
priorities for strategic action, which will be necessary to the successful
conservation, use, and celebration of our crop wild relatives and wild
utilized plants.


1 - Combine forces to understand and document North America’s crop wild
relatives and wild utilized plants, assess threats to their natural
habitats, and determine gaps in their conservation. A collaborative
assessment is needed to document and define the highest priority species,
understand patterns of diversity, and identify gaps in conservation. Of
equal importance is to identify poorly recognized North American plant
species with potential future agricultural significance. Results must be
shared widely with relevant professionals in the conservation, land
management, and crop science communities, and with the general public.


2 - Collaborate on collecting and conserving North America’s crop wild
relatives and wild utilized plants in ex situ collections (as plants,
tissues or seeds). Prioritized crop wild relatives and wild utilized plants
across North America need systematic collecting, coordinated by botanic,
taxonomic, and conservation experts and capitalizing on local botanical
expertise, while providing training and educational opportunities for
participants. The plants then need to be processed and stored in ex situ
conservation repositories in conditions that will enable their survival for
the long-term.


3 - Collaborate on making North America’s crop wild relatives and wild
utilized plants accessible to plant breeders, researchers, and educators.
These plants need to be carefully managed to ensure adequate, high quality,
true to type propagules are available for distribution, and they need to be
easily accessible via online databases. Indigenous, traditional, and local
knowledge about these plants must be valued and protected in accordance
with transparent agreements. These plants should also be accessible to the
public through botanic garden displays and through information initiatives
on public lands.


4 - Cooperate on protecting North America’s crop wild relatives and wild
utilized plants in their natural habitats. Conservation sites for
populations of the highest priority crop wild relatives and wild utilized
plants need to be designated in existing protected areas, and additional
protected areas need to be advocated for, as necessary to adequately
protect the genetic diversity of these plants in their natural habitats so
they can continue to evolve.


5 - Combine forces to raise public awareness about North America’s crop
wild relatives and wild utilized plants. Creating coordinated educational
and communications programs to help raise awareness and provide a backdrop
for ongoing support of crop wild relative and wild utilized plant
conservation, while respecting, preserving and maintaining associated
indigenous and local knowledge, is necessary to the long-term viability of
conservation and plant breeding efforts. Skilled education and outreach
professionals should lead collaborative efforts to raise awareness about
the importance of, and threats to, our useful wild plants.



-- 
Leah Prescott
Seeds of Success
National Collection Curator (Contractor)
202-912-7232

Seeds of Success
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>
National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>
Plant Conservation Alliance <http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/>
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