Policy implementation

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Management plan
Design & Implementation
Policy implementation

The Management Plan

Design & Implementation

The management plan should include a review of the local, sub-national, national, regional and international policies that are relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of CWR.

In order to be able to design and effectively manage your genetic reserve, you should know and be aware of the policy instruments and legal framework.

Include in the management plan a review of any international, regional and national policies relevant to the conservation and use of CWR. Often a country also has local authorities at different levels (states, provinces, counties, municipalities, district councils etc.) which may have their own policies and legal frameworks. Consider these policies as well.

Knowing about this policy instruments may also help in getting support from local authorities, national, regional or global programmes and in getting recognition for the work you are doing.

Learn more about policy frameworks...

Sub-national

Depending on the administrative organization of each country, the importance of the policies at sub-national level will greatly vary. In general, two different levels can be found:

Local level, including regulations concerning the management and use of parks, streets, and public land in rural areas.
Subnational public administration entities immediately below the country level corresponding to NUTS level 2 including states, provinces, regions, government regions and autonomous communities, etc. depending on the country. In many countries, like Germany or Spain, these entities are competent to enact legislation concerning agriculture and environment; therefore, the policy framework may include subnational laws, policies and strategies regarding these areas as well as more specific ones governing the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA.

National

Each country has developed its own policy instruments relating to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. In general, these include:

Existing national policy framework, including development plans, poverty reduction strategies, climate change adaptation plans, agricultural and environmental policies.
Existing national laws, policies and strategies governing the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA, including sector-specific strategies and national programmes.
National laws, policies and regulations for access and benefit sharing of genetic resources.
Current programmes and activities under the National Plant Genetic Resources Programme.

Regional

Regional agreements and/or treaties to which the country is a party should be mentioned as well as regional, sub-regional and bilateral programmes and networks of which the country is a member. For example, in Europe, some of the key policy instruments include:

EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.
Habitats Directive 92/43.
EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The community programme on the conservation, characterization, evaluation and use of genetic resources in agriculture, based on Council Regulation (EC) 870/2004 replaced by EU Research and innovation programme (EU, 2013).
EC research work programmes.
EU Regulation 511/2014 (EU ABS Regulation).

Global

This includes the international agreements and/or treaties to which the country is a party. In brief, these include:

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted in 1992. In 2010, CBD COP adopted a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 with its associated Aichi Targets, which is a ten-year framework for action. These targets are currently being revised for the period 2021-2030. The Nagoya Protocol to the CBD, which came into force into 2014, creates specific obligations for users of genetic resources relating to the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization.
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), legally binding instrument entered in force in June 2004 with its objectives being in harmony with those of the CBD.
FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), which adopted in 2013 three targets for PGRFA, the first of which by 2020, an increasing proportion of genetic diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives as well as wild food plant species are maintained in situ, on farm and ex situ in a complementary manner.
Second Global Plan of Action for PGRFA adopted by the FAO council in November 2011 provides 18 Priority activities to be implemented by member states, of which the first four activities (1-4) relates to the in situ conservation and management.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 - Zero Hunger: SDG goal 2 highlights the need of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and its target 2.5 aims to maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, by 2020. SDG 15 – Life on Land: highlights the need to halt biodiversity loss.

In 2015, the Secretariats of the CBD, International Treaty on PGRFA, CGRFA along with Bioversity International notified their respective Contracting Parties, together with the national focal points of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA), of the need to strengthen in situ conservation of plant genetic resources through the incorporation of active CWR conservation in protected area networks, and link in situ conservation to sustainable use (Notification SCBD/SAM/DC/DCo/84808 dated 3 August 2015).