Kheder Durah, Ph.D.

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, CWANA Regional Office

Modelling Genetic Resource

Outline

• Biodiversity importance

• Information & Communication Technology

• Sustainable ICT Development

• ICT Challenges

• ICT Types

• ICT Role in Regional Strategies

• Conservation Activities

• Modeling Tools

• Regional ICT Conservation Strategy

• Biodiversity can provide farmers and scientists with the raw materials such as genetic resources, to make more robust nutrition, productive crops.

• Protecting and preserving traditional crop varieties

makes an essential contribution to agricultural development.

• WANA Conservation Strategy is to promote the development of an effective and efficient system for conservation of the most important crop diversity collections in the region.

Biodiversity Conservation

• ICT is enabling technologies that can be applied to support a wide range of social, cultural, political and economic activities. These technologies include telecommunication and computing hardware and software. The ICT industry is often extended to include production of information “content” and the distribution of this content through broadcasting and publishing media.

• Modern ICTs are based on digital technologies that support the creation, storage and processing of large amount of information (Modeling Tools) and that facilitate voice, data and image processing and communication.

• ICT can play an important role in eradication of poverty; thru providing stakeholders with access to information which in turn can:– Create earning opportunities.– Improve access to basic services.– Increase the impact of education and health interventions.– Provide a voice to demand governments’ support and

reforms.

Information and Communication Technology

• Stakeholders must be enabled or empowered to access improved technologies and to make their own choices thru the development of their capabilities.

• They will be able to respond to changing needs and opportunities as they arise, leading to sustainable development of their livelihoods. (e.g. changing production systems.)

Sustainable ICT Development

• Technology related problems are results of:– Poor policies– Inadequate regulations– Lack of transparency

• These problems affects directly a host of development issues like health, education and job creation.

ICT Challenges

– Process Technologies:Result in increased productive efficiency and or

improved products.

– Product Technologies: New products with direct welfare benefits to consumers

(Medicine, Artificial Contraceptives, micro-nutrient-enhanced grains; etc)

– Transaction Technologies:Facilitate coordination, information sharing and

exchange between stakeholders; or other sets of economic agents, reducing transaction costs.

ICT Types

– Building the technological capabilities of the people.• Facilitating the provision of new ICT technologies.• Addressing their organizational, management and marketing skills.• Opening new channels for information and knowledge.• Making credit and markets more accessible.

– Creating innovative partnerships and new incentives for (R&D).• Reducing the gap between the resources devoted to R&D for advanced industrial

markets and those that address the needs of farmers and stakeholders. (i.e. global public investments should focus on creating R&D capacity based on farmers needs and requirements).

– Protecting social and traditional knowledge.• Genetic Resources for food and agriculture should be kept in the public domain.• International agreements should protect GR from private expropriation.• IPR regimes should be developed to incorporate IK and common property

resources.– Expanding investment in technologies for development.

• Develop mechanisms necessary to facilitate the communication between technology developers and farmers.

• Means are also needed to ensure that support is provided to technology adaptation and development by communities.

ICT Role in Regional Conservation Strategy

Conservation Activities

• Activities in GR Conservation:

– Survey (Echo-Geographic, Remote Sensing)

– Collection (Seed, Vegetative & IK)

– Characterization (Using Descriptor List, Botanical)

– Evaluation (Deep characterization, yield production and nutrition)

– Documentation (Electronic Format, store, retrieve, disseminate, share and collaborate)

– Conservation (Ex-situ, In-situ)

– Distribution (By Request and Provision)

– Regeneration/ Multiplication ( to manage variability)

• Activities in GR Use:

– Use by Breeders (crop improvement);

– Use by Farmers (Growers);

– Use by Crop Consumers.

Having a sustainable knowledge management modeling tool is the key solution to address the challenge of capturing Indigenous knowledge, analyzing it and share it in a collaborative manner.

IPGRI CWANA Regional Office Developed an an effective modeling tool to Capture Indigenous Knowledge , analyze and share among National Programs.

The Solution

GR Network Model and Peripherals

Furthermore to make a powerful Network Knowledge tool, a centralized database was created and hosted at IPGRI-CWANA office to allow publishing of passport data of accessions from various National programs currently using GRIS and future Stakeholders.

This collective database is part of CWANA published Knowledge Center based on MS SharePoint portal technology, thus making it available for the public use.

A regional agreement between your selves, each representing his own country, to conserve the regional genetic heritage thru co-operation with each other and distribution of roles and responsibilities according to what each country can offer for the rest of the group in terms of training, distribution of scientific research, hosting of venues and ..etc

Regional Conservation Strategy

http://forum2.ipgri.cgiar.org/cwana/default.aspx http://forum2.ipgri.cgiar.org/drafts_apw_apr_mtp/default.aspx