February 2011: Bioversity International has released the February issue of its “Newsletter for Europe.” The newsletter describes several meetings and projects being undertaken or recently completed related to agriculture, biodiversity and genetic resources, including the meeting of the Steering Committee for the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), held from 14-16 December 2010, in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The ECPGR meeting considered the recommendations from the Independent External Review of ECPGR, aimed at increasing the responsibility and accountability of the ECPGR. The Steering Committee agreed on:new wording of the goal and outcomes of the ECPGR; the establishment of an Executive Committee; plans for the Executive Committee to develop an options paper that addresses the ECPGR’s processes and objectives; and the reestablishment of the Task Force to develop a plan on the relationship with the European Commission.

The newsletter also: outlines progress from meetings of the Cucurbits Working Group and the sixth Avena Working Group; describes the AGRIGENRES project on Avena Genetic Resources for Nutritional Quality, which aims to bring the expertise of analytical laboratories into the genetic resources community; highlights the launch of the EUFGIS Portal, which acts as a European information system on forest genetic resources to support countries’ efforts to implement gene conservation of forest trees as part of sustainable forest management; and describes a new online learning tool on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), which was developed by Biodiversity International.

Additional articles address: technical workshops on forest ecosystem genomics; recent developments in the EVOLTREE consortium on the evolution of forest trees; the forthcoming launch of a forest genetic resources training guide in March 2011; Crops for the Future, a global partnership promoting greater use of neglected and underutilized species; the Nagoya Protocol; an agrobiodiversity assessment from southern Italy; the completion of a project on improved management of genetic resources from leafy vegetables; and a report on the climate change adaptation potential for crop wild relatives.

Bioversity International is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [Publication: Bioversity International February Newsletter]