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[SANET-MG] plant gene bank at risk
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ItalysGenebankAtRisk.phpISIS Press Release 03/08/05
Italy's Genebank At Risk
Prof. Pietro Perrino tells the story of how Italy's gene bank, among the
ten largest in the world, risks being destroyed under an enforced merger
with groups preoccupied with genetic modification of crop plants
The Germplasm Institute in Bari
The Germplasm Institute (GI) of the Italian National Research Council
(CNR) was founded in 1970, in Bari, Italy, with the aim to collect,
preserve, multiply, characterise, evaluate and distribute plant genetic
resources, both cultivated and wild relatives, that are threatened by
genetic erosion and/or extinction and important for agriculture.
From 1970 to 2002, the GI collaborated with many national and
international organisations including the US Department of Agriculture,
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and different
centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), and collected germplasm in many countries of the Mediterranean
Basin, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Africa. In more than 100 expeditions,
over 13 000 samples of wheat and other cereals, pea, broad bean, and
other pulses, including wild relatives were collected. The GI has also
acquired samples of germplasm through exchange with other gene banks and
institutions. So that, today, the collections of germplasm amount to
about 84 000 accessions: cereals (38 000), pulses (9 000), vegetables (3
000), fodder gramineae (2 000), fodder leguminosae (4 500), medicinal
plants (700) and numerous active collections (25 000) belonging to
around 600 species.
Seed samples are stored at a relative humidity of 35 percent and 0°C
(medium term conservation) and -20°C (long term conservation). During
and after multiplication and/or rejuvenation as well as during storage,
part of the collections is also submitted to characterisation and seed
germination tests.
In all, 1 400 genebanks in the world (FAO) are preserving ex situ more
than 6 million of accessions of plant germplasm (mainly seed samples).
Of this germplasm 1 percent is preserved at GI, 30 percent in other gene
banks of Europe and 69 percent in the rest of the world. The GI is the
only gene bank in Italy, preserving nearly 90 percent of the ex situ
Italian plant germplasm and according to the size of collections and
standard of conservation, it is the second in Europe, after the German
gene bank, and is among the ten biggest gene banks in the world. During
the 32 years between 1970 and 2002, during most of which I was director
of the GI, we distributed over 81 000 accessions, more than those
annually distributed by all of the Centres of the CGIAR.
Research projects at GI were oriented to stimulate and to promote
utilisation of indigenous plant germplasm. Three strategies were
adopted. The first was to select genetic resources in collaboration with
local farmers. The second was to select germplasm in collaboration with
plant breeders, looking for adaptive and good qualitative characters all
along the line that leads to the end food products. The third was to
develop, in collaboration with other institutions, academic research for
longer-term objectives, such as to widen the genetic base through
breeding and studies of cell genetics, and better understanding of the
potentialities of maintenance through studies of seed physiology.
From 1970 to 2002, the costs of germplasm collection, maintenance,
research and salaries were about € 50 million. Apart from preserving the
84 000 accessions, GI contributed to exploration, collection,
multiplication and conservation strategies, published more than 1 000
scientific papers, provided databases on documentation of the
collections and trained more than 1 000 Italian and foreign visitors,
students and researchers. Most of all, many of the genetic resources
maintained in genebank are unique and very often no longer present in
cultivated fields, due to the high genetic erosion caused by the
diffusion of new varieties with a very narrow genetic base. In this
respect, the introduction and cultivation of GMOs would make the
situation even worst. Thus, the germplasm maintained in the genebank
should be considered of a very high value for developing sustainable and
organic agriculture.
Merging of the GI with other research centres against the wishes of the
employees
In November 2002, against the will of myself, as Director of the GI ,
and a significant number of employees, the GI in Bari was merged with
other much smaller CNR research centres that since their origin, have
been engaged with genetics, plant breeding activities and more recently
with genetic engineering on citrus fruits in Palermo, on vegetable crops
and flowers in Naples, on fodder crops in Perugia and on forest trees in
Florence. This merged entity was called Istituto di Genetica Vegetale
(IGV) (Plant Genetic Institute). It is worth stressing that within the
University system in Italy, there are at least 30 other Plant Gentic
Institutes, whereas there is only one Germplasm Intitute in the CNR. And
according to the rules of reformation of CNR, the GI should have been
strengthened and not closed down by merging it with other groups to form
a centre, which, as said, duplicates other university departments and
with much more emphasis on genetic engineering activity. T he battles
from April 2001 to October 2002 between GI employees, supported by the
Agricultural Councillor of Apulia Region and the Ministry of Agriculture
on one side and the top management of CNR on the other were largely in
vain, except that, in order to placate the GI employees and the
politicians, the seat of IGV was moved from Naples to Bari, and the
thematics of research of the IGV was extended to include part of the GI
activities and interests, which had previously been completely ignored.
The merger endangers germplasm collection
Since November 2002, the management of the IGV has created a lot of
trouble for the ex GI. The most serious concerns the cooling system for
seed storage in the genebank, which did not function for a few months
and therefore the temperature of cold storage rooms went up for a
considerable number of days. The Magistrate of Bari has already made an
intervention with the result that I was nominated judicial custodian of
the gene bank. Only then was the cooling system repaired. Nevertheless,
the Magistrate has decided to maintain the judicial custodian until the
probable damage to the germplasm collections caused by the increase of
room storage temperature can be evaluated.
Moves to save the genebank
I, as Director of the ex-GI, now Research Manager, together with a few
remaining colleagues are fighting to defend the gene bank and the stored
plant genetic resources from the Director of the IGV and his lobby, who
want to have full control of the germplasm in order to use it as a
pretext for getting large research funds, as they are not interested in
biodiversity but are fully involved in GMOs or even worse, in the
opinion of some of us (including outsider supporters), the lobby, linked
to multinationals, wants to destroy the germplasm and prevent farmers
from using them. This last hypothesis is not so strange if one considers
that the Director of the IGV did not respond positively to the request
of repairing the cooling systems of seed storage rooms when they were
not functioning.
The CBD the Treaty of FAO and its legal implementation in Italy
On 30 March 2004, the Italian Senate discussed the draft of the law n.
2845 that ratified the execution of “The International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture” of the FAO (see “Save our
seeds”, this series) adopted by the thirty-first Conference of FAO in
Rome on 3 November 2001. The law was approved by the Chamber of the
deputies; and as the Law came into effect on 6 April 2004, the Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry has allocated to the IGV the sum of € 155
000. How is the Director of IGV to use these funds in agreement with the
Treaty if the genebank is under judicial attachment? Will the Director
of the IGV use these extra funds assigned for activities of conservation
intended by the Treaty, after having put to risk the entire gene bank
collection?
The future of the genebank uncertain
The future of the Bari gene bank and the preserved germplasm is
uncertain. We do not know when the germplasm collections will be
evaluated for damages that may have been done during the breakdown of
the cooling system, and when the gene bank will be placed under the full
direct control of the Italian Government and not left in the hands of
people that would not take care of it, or would simply use it to make GMOs.
The Sustainable World Global Initiative and the future of genebanks
In conclusion, the Sustainable World conference maybe the right forum to
start a world-wide evaluation on the state of the world's gene banks, to
verify their functionality and usefulness, how well the plant germplasm
is being preserved, how much and how often it is used and for what
purposes, and how much is the cost of maintenance in order to understand
whether ex situ conservation in gene bank is a usefu l strategy for
implementing sustainable food systems around the world.
This article is an edited version of Prof. Pietro Perrino's presentation
at the Sustainable World Conference 14-15 July 2005 in Westminster,
London. His Presentation can be found on the Independent Science Panel
website http://www.indsp.org/ISPSustainableWorld.php
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