Talk presented at http://genebanktraining.colostate.edu/index.html

1. What should genebank managers be
knowledgeable about?
(or, how can they know what they don’t know, and do something about it)
Some international perspectives

2. • What’s been done in the past?
• What’s out there now?
• What do the international instruments say?
• What’s in the literature?
• The wisdom of the crowd
• Some final general suggestions
Contents

3. “I would like to be remembered for establishing a functioning,
well-organized and documented genebank. But I think the
people who carry on after me will be the legacy that I leave
behind.”
Jean Hanson, ILRI
https://www.genebanks.org/news-activities/news/jean-hanson/

4. 1. The pioneers: U Birmingham course
• https://mikejackson1948.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/genetic-resources-the-
impact-of-the-university-of-birmingham/
• SADC connection: SPGRC, UNZA
• U London distance learning course
2. The IPGRI contribution
• Regionalization (Africa, Asia, Latin America hubs)
• Generalization (curriculum, materials)
3. The last (MSc) course standing?
• UPLB
History
4

5. UPLB, The Philippines
http://uplbgraduateschool.org/academic-programs/plant-genetic-resources-conservation-and-management-pgrcm/
UPM, Spain
https://masteroficialrecursosfitogeneticos.wordpress.com/
U. Saskatchewan, Canada
http://ocw.usask.ca/AB/PLSC/408/#
UNALM, Mexico
http://www.leisa-al.org/web/index.php/lasnoticias/biodiversidad/3166-curso-internacional-domesticacion-manejo-y-conservacion-in-situ-de-
recursos-geneticos
CGN, The Netherlands
https://www.wur.nl/nl/show/CDIcourse_contemporary_approaches_2018.htm
Existing courses (selected)
5

6. Bioversity
https://www.bioversityinternational.org/e-library/publications/training-materials/
Genebank Platform (ex CGKB)
https://www.genebanks.org/resources/
Millennium Seed Bank, Kew
http://brahmsonline.kew.org/msbp/Training/Training
FAO
http://www.fao.org/elearning/#/elc/en/course/PB
International Treaty
https://e-learning.informea.org/course/view.php?id=13
Int. Society for Biological & Environmental Repositories
http://www.isber.org/?page=BiobankEduOpp
Existing training resources (selected)
6

7. • 18 Priority Areas, of which one is…
• 17. “Building and strengthening
human capacity”
International instruments: 2nd SoW & GPA
http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2624e/i2624e00.htm

8. Bottlenecks in the PGRFA use system
Kell, S., Marino, M. & Maxted, N. Euphytica (2017) 213: 170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-017-1935-z
1. Policy
2. Genotyping
3. Markets for landraces
4. Participatory breeding
5. Conservation planning
6. Data management
7. PPP in plant breeding
8. Conservation techniques

9. IT revolution: challenges & opportunities
Plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture: opportunities and
challenges emerging from the science
and information technology revolution.
New Phytologist (2018) 217:1407–1419
doi:10.1111/nph.14993

10. • Debouck (CIAT): Dealing with the media
 Including social media 
• Ellis (CIP): Navigating policy environment
 Only getting more complex
• Sackville Hamilton (IRRI): How to get out of “genebank database hell”
 GRIN-Global
 DOIs
 Metadata for char/eval
Neglected areas: retiring CG genebank managers

11. • Genetic resources policy
• Taxonomy
• Extinction: genes, varieties, knowledge,
wisdom
• Seed physiology – including seed
development, aging, vigour
 Knowledge of and disseminating information
on strategies for germinating older seed
 Conservation of recalcitrant species
• Incentives: commercialization of adaptive local
varieties
• Linking crop diversity management and
climate change
Other neglected areas: crowdsourcing
https://agro.biodiver.se/2018/03/crowdsourcing-genebank-training-needs/#comments
• Financial management
 The economics of genetically efficient
genetic resource curation
• Strategic partnerships
• Traditional knowledge
• A good control of what is in their collection
and the status of each accession
 Sample and lot tracking
 Maintaining genetic integrity
 Seed banks vs. gene banks: What’s the unit
of conservation and what are the biologically
and economically justifiable thresholds for
keeping genetically similar accessions?
• Disease testing and seed treatments for
seed import and distribution
• Valuation of PGR in genebanks

12. • Counteract trend towards specialization
• Don’t stop at conservation (use, impact etc)
• Plan for different audiences, levels, length of course
Modularity
Flexibility
Use cases
• Build around quality management
GOAL
• Factor in mentorship
• Remember other languages
Some final thoughts

13. THANK YOU
WWW.CROPTRUST.ORG