Conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources (FAO)

Significant forest genetic resources are being threatened as a result of tropical deforestation and loss of genetic resources. Yet, in several countries, worldwide concern about the depletion of tropical forests still needs to be translated into action. While conservation and sustainable management and use of tropical forests tops the lists of priorities, our limited knowledge of the impacts of deforestation and resulting fragmentation, uncontrolled exploitation and other threats to forest genetic resources, constitute a serious gap limiting the activities of national, regional and international institutions. The development of appropriate methods and strategies for conservation and sustainable use should ensure and increase the contribution of the forestry sector to the livelihood of local communities and to national economies. To be effective, conservation of forest genetic resources needs to be integrated into the overall framework of sustainable forest management. A better understanding of key factors for implementing long-term sound in situ conservation of genetic diversity in populations of forest trees is vital. Ex situ conservation needs special attention, particularly for recalcitrant tree seeds. Conservation of forest genetic resources represents a challenge because of its close linkage with sustainable forest management. With a wide range of new biotechnology methods and recent scientific and technical tools, and urgent motivations to conserve and use, partners in conservation have the responsibility to generate information and make it available to assist countries in making informed decisions and implementing effective conservation and use strategies. [author]