Kew turns over a new leaf

UNESCO Courier, May, 2000 by David Dickson

Smith says that the need for a binding agreement on what Kew can do with the seeds that it stores can cause problems, for example when a country lacks any formal mechanism for providing the "prior informed consent" for obtaining data on its plants as required under the CBD.

The same desire to use Kew's knowledge and experience is reflected in a separate initiative to harmonize procedures for access to seed and germplasm collections around the world.

As a result of this initiative, representatives of 14 botanic gardens in 11 countries agreed at a meeting in Beijing last year to adopt a common set of policy guidelines setting out their commitments on acquiring and conserving genetic resources, on the use and supply of such resources, and on the sharing of benefits arising from their use, for example by commercial organizations.

The new priorities that make up Kew's current agenda are very different from those which determined its influence a hundred years ago. "The last thing we want is to be accused of being biopirates," says Smith. "We must not deny that we ever did it. But we must acknowledge that that world has gone."

(*.) British scientific journalist, news editor of Nature magazine

Conservation worldwide

For mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, the standard form of ex-situ conservation is in zoological parks. There are currently an estimated 500,000 living creatures in zoos worldwide. Some species such as the Californian condor now only exist in zoos. Others such as Przewalski's horse and the Pere David deer have only survived because they were protected in zoos. They are now being released back into the wild.

The main forms of ex situ plant conservation are botanic gardens (for whole specimens) and germplasm and seed banks. Botanical Gardens International, a non-governmental organization, estimates there are 1,500 botanic gardens worldwide, containing at least 35,000 species, over 15 per cent of the world's total. Some put the estimate as high as 70,000 to 8o,ooo species.

Most botanic gardens are in the industrialized nations (only 230 are in tropical countries, despite their greater plant diversity). Many seed and germplasm banks are linked directly to botanical collections. Others are owned by multinational corporations, which use them as source material for developing new plant varieties. One survey found that 88 per cent of plant-breeding companies keep their own store of genetic resources.

A third major source of seed and germplasm samples are university departments and the research institutes forming the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, funded through the World Bank.