The conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany Advancing the policy agenda Sarah Sensen, Yiching Song, Ronnie Vernooy September 2024 DCZ Policy Brief Disclaimer This study is published under the responsibility of the Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ), which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The views, results, conclusions, and/or proposals stated therein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the BMEL. Authors Sarah Sensen, Federal Office for Food and Agriculture, Bonn, Germany Yiching Song, UN Environment Programme-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP- IEMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing/Farmers’ Seed Network, China Ronnie Vernooy, Bioversity International, Wageningen, the Netherlands Published and edited by Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ) Room 201, Foreign Economic Cooperation Centre (FECC) of MARA 55 Nongzhan Beilu, Chaoyang District 100125 Beijing, China T +86 (0) 10 6500 0958 E info-dcz@iakleipzig.de W www.dcz-china.org This publication is available free of charge from the DCZ website. All rights reserved. No part of this pub- lication, including the photos, may be reproduced by any means without written permission from the editor. Reproduction for noncommercial purposes is permitted provided the source is named. mailto:info-dcz@iakleipzig.de http://www.dcz-china.org/ Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 1 – Background In November 2023, the Sino-German Agrobiodi- versity Network was established with the aim to exchange knowledge and experiences on the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodi- versity as a contribution to the transformation to climate-resilient food systems and more innova- tive development of rural regions (e.g., through the production, sales, and promotion of novel products). The initiative received support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agri- culture. The Sino-German Agricultural Centre in Beijing, China (Deutsch-Chinesisches Agrar- zentrum, DCZ) assumed coordination of the Net- work. One of the areas of work of the Sino-Ger- man Agrobiodiversity Network is agrobiodiver- sity policy development, in particular in support of the efforts of farmers, farming communities, and related organizations to conserve and sus- tainably use agrobiodiversity. In this brief, we re- port on the question: In the context of the Sino- German collaboration, what can the two coun- tries learn from each other to advance the policy agenda for agrobiodiversity? What are today’s challenges and opportunities? China China, with its highly diverse agroecological areas and long farming history, is richly endowed with agri- cultural biodiversity re- sources. Farmers and farm- ing communities have con- served their crops and vari- eties for many centuries. This practice has allowed crop varieties to gradually adapt to new climate and environ-mental conditions. In recent decades, however, local agrobiodiversity con- servation efforts have come under pressure due to industrialization, modernization of agriculture, out-migration, and the ageing and changing de- mographics of the rural population. New conser- vation and sustainable management initiatives have emerged to withstand and counter this pressure, such as bio-cultural heritage sites, community seed banks, conservation areas and farms, and farmers’ markets (Figures 1 and 2). A national agrobiodiversity policy could be of much value to support these initiatives, but the country has yet to develop, approve, and imple- ment it, despite a plea made by a group of re- searchers already a decade ago to design a na- tional agrobiodiversity policy (Vernooy et al. 2013). On the positive side, China’s recent policy developments pay attention to some key ele- ments of an imagined national agrobiodiversity policy as the country is trying to pay more atten- tion to agroecology, genetic re-sources conser- vation, “green” (energy) development, and healthy diets, among others. According to the Chinese government, the key to safe-guarding food security is to implement a new agricultural strategy by strengthening the conservation and utilization of germplasm resources and estab- lishing seed banks. Funds will be made available for these objectives. Figure 1: Beijing Farmers' Market Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 2 – Core policy elements At the legislative front, China's provisions on conservation and sustainable utilization of ge- netic resources are reflected in laws and regula- tions at all levels: the first level is the national constitution; the second level is the national law (e.g., the recently revised Seed Law of the Peo- ple’s Republic of China, with more attention paid to farmer-managed seed systems); the third level are departmental regulations (e.g., China Biodi- versity Conservation Action Plan, 1994; Measures for the Administration of Crop Germplasm Re- sources, 2003); and the fourth level is related to policies and strategic action plans (National Bio- diversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan, 2011-2030; Medium and Long Term Develop- ment Plan For the Conservation and Utilization of Crop Germplasm Resources in China, 2015- 2030). Concerning international policies of ge- netic resources conservation and sustainable use, China is a party member of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Government of China is committed to fulfilling the Convention’s obliga- tions, as well as other relevant international obli- gations, and to strengthen international ex- changes and cooperation in food and genetic re- sources. Although China has not (yet) joined the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agricul- ture (ITPGRFA), there is general awareness in the country about its importance, and there is agreement that fur- ther discussions will be held about China’s po- sition and roles in the international arena. China has established and maintains an ex- tensive formal national gene banking system (with multiple entities and activities across the country), which con- serves more than 500,000 accessions of more than 10,000 culti- vated and wild species. Characterization, moni- toring, distribution, and regeneration are regular activities. Priorities for the coming years are to collect landraces across the country; establish the registration system for crop landraces by farmers with support from scientists and local govern- ments; evaluate and identify the biological, eco- nomic, ecological, and cultural values for crop breeding; building resilient production systems; and support specific product development. A second priority is to improve the management of the ex situ system; and a third priority is to im- prove the use efficiency of germplasm by making the information better available on the charac- teristics of accessions conserved in the national gene banks and providing elite germplasm for breeding and related research (Bai et al. 2024). In recent years, community seed banks have started to play crucial roles in in situ and on-farm conservation, contributing to improving farming communities’ livelihoods and the state’s food se- curity agenda (Song et al. 2021). The Farmers’ Seed Network of China has been instrumental in building up a national network of community seed banks of almost 100 seed banks, some of which are connected to Globally Important Figure 2: May Organic Farm in the vicinity of Suzhou, Jiangsu province Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 3 – Agricultural Heritage Sites (e.g., Wangjinzhuang dryland terraces in Hebei Province) (Figures 3 and 4). However, the national gene bank system has not yet actively collaborated with the community seed banks, and accessions from community seed banks have yet to be incorporated in the national gene bank system. Figure 3: Wangjinzhuang Dryland Terraces, Hebei province Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Figure 4: Wangjinzhuang community seedbank Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 4 – Germany Germany, although still a country with large rural areas, has undergone many changes in its natural resource basis, with a notable reduction in agro- biodiversity. However, the country has put con- siderable effort in developing a supportive policy environment for the conservation and sustaina- ble use of its remaining agrobiodiversity. This has been done in alignment with the objectives of in- ternational agreements and instruments, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Inter- national Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the FAO (CGRFA), and the Green Deal of the European Union. In March 2024, the government published the “National Strategy on Genetic Re- sources for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fish- eries” (BMEL 2024), which replaces the agrobio- diversity strategy from 2007 (BMELV 2007). It supports contributing to an eco-friendlier agri- culture and forestry, the conservation of genetic resources in agriculture, and complements and contributes to several related policies in Germany (e.g., the National Biodiversity Strategy, 2007 and the 2035 Arable Farming Strategy). The German plant genetic resources system is characterized by an effective long-term conser- vation infrastructure with internationally recog- nized genebanks and well-qualified plant re- search institutions. There are currently six na- tional genebanks (Figure 5). These consist of more than 100 collections hosted and curated by a varied range of actors at the Federal, Laender, and local level, and by private individuals. Four of these genebanks are decentralized networks that are specialized in the conservation of certain crops, namely the German Genebank for Fruit Crops, the German Genebank for Grapevine, the German Genebank for Ornamentals, and the Genebank for Crop Wild Relatives. The federal central ex situ genebank is situated at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Re- search (IPK). It ranks among the oldest and most significant collections in the world, with an overall stock of 151,000 samples of more than 3,000 dif- ferent species from almost 700 botanical genera. All German genebanks conserve their accessions according to the FAO genebank standards (FAO 2013). Accessions are distributed under the terms of the TPGRFA for the purposes of research, breeding, and training, with the Standard Mate- rial Transfer Agreement (SMTA), or a special Ma- terial Transfer Agreement for ornamentals based on the SMTA. Of the more than 184,000 acces- sions preserved in German genebanks, about 65% are of species included in Annex I of the ITPGRFA and have been notified as part of its multilateral system. Similar to China, collection, documenta- tion, characterization, monitoring, distribution, and regeneration, are regular activities. The attention to in situ conservation of crop wild relatives has increased over the past decade. The German Network of Genetic Reserves has been established in 2019 as a framework for in situ conservation of priority crop wild relatives (Thor- mann 2020). Specialized networks under the Network include genetic reserves harboring populations or plant communities identified based on agreed criteria and managed by coor- dination units located in relevant agencies or in- stitutions. Apart from the government institu- tions, a wide range of non-governmental organ- izations and individuals are engaged in conser- vation and management of plant genetic re- sources on farms or in gardens (Figure 6). Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 5 – Figure 5: Dahlem Seed Bank, Berlin Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Figure 6: VERN e.V. garden, Greiffenberg Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 6 – Core policy elements The coordination and governance structure of genetic resources for food and agriculture in Germany goes back to a concept of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture published in 2000 (Oet- mann 2000). It recognized the sharing of decen- tralized responsibilities among the respective public and private actors, and governmental lev- els with distributed mandates and funding. It also led to the establishment of a central information and coordination center for genetic resources, which facilitates data sharing, communication, and co-operation. It also supports efficient con- tributions of German stakeholders to European structures and international bodies. The main components of the German coordination and governance structure are: • Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) with a coordination division related to genetic resources for food and agricul- ture and additional domain-specific divi- sions for plant, animal, forest and aquatic genetic resources; • National Strategy and national programs for plant, animal, forest, and aquatic genetic re- sources; • National expert committees for plant, ani- mal, forest, and aquatic genetic resources, consisting of Laender authorities and a wide range of experts and stakeholders; • Scientific Advisory Board for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources; • Information and Coordination Centre for Bi- ological Diversity (IBV) at the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE); • National inventories for plant, animal, forest, and aquatic genetic resources • National information platform/website (https://genres.de/en/). In addition to the overall agrobiodiversity strat- egy, respectively the Strategy on Genetic Re- sources, domain-specific national programs for genetic resources for animal, aquatic, forest, and plant resources were developed. They are func- tional instruments that describe the detailed measures to be implemented throughout Ger- many in each of the domains within a certain time-period, set priorities, facilitate the monitor- ing of activities and achievements, and assist in linking stakeholder groups. National expert com- mittees for plant, animal, forest, and aquatic ge- netic resources, consisting of Laender authorities, and a wide range of experts and stakeholders, are in charge of guiding the implementation of the national programs. The Information and Coordination Centre for Bi- ological Diversity (IBV) keeps an oversight and facilitates the implementation of the national programs through information, documentation, communication, and coordination measures. The Centre communicates relevant international in- formation and necessary actions to the national stakeholders and vice versa. Plant genetic re- sources experts at the IBV coordinate the Euro- pean and global collaboration in genetic re- sources for food and agriculture conservation and use. They coordinate the interactions with and the contributions to the European Coopera- tive Programme for Plant Genetic Resources. They advise and represent the Ministry in the col- laboration with and sessions of the ITPGRFA and the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group of the CGRFA and take care of all related inter- national reporting obligations. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) assumes responsibility for the conserva- tion and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity and genetic resources, which provide the basis for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and the food in- dustry. The BMEL has the following instruments at its disposal: • Setting the framework for funding opportu- nities within the Joint Task for the Improve- ment of Agricultural Structures and Coastal Protection and the European Agricultural Policy and Fisheries Policy, Forest Climate Fund for the promotion of forest-related research and development projects; • Funding for research projects, model and demonstration projects or nationwide Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 7 – surveys in the field of biodiversity and con- sideration of genetic resources in relevant research programs of the BMEL and other federal ministries; • Infrastructure maintenance and develop- ment in federal institutions; • Funding of facilities and projects of national importance and research of national and supra-regional importance at project level; • Events, provision of information services, coordination; • Setting the legal framework. The legal prerequisite to permit and market seeds of landraces and varieties of agricultural species and vegetable species, which are relevant for the conservation of genetic resources under facilitated conditions, is the EU-Regulation on Conservation Varieties adopted in 2009. The overall aim is to find ways and measures to contribute with a broad diversity of genetic re- sources to a resilient, sustainable, and circular production of food and raw materials and to conserve a sufficiently large gene pool of genetic resources as an “option pool” of characteristics that will be essential in the future to adapt to dif- ferent crises (Figures 7 and 8). Some challenges remain to be addressed. Among them are several coordination and conservation activities in the ex situ and in situ conservation networks, that would benefit from more long-term institutional sup- port to stakeholders carrying out these functions. Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 8 – – Figure 7: Weltacker, Berlin Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Figure 8: Globus Naturkost supermarket, Eberswalde Credit: Bioversity International/R. Vernooy Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 9 – Advancing the agrobiodiversity agenda: core elements and recom- mendations This brief review of agrobiodiversity-related pol- icies, laws, and regulations of both countries al- lows to reflect on differences and similarities, and to identify five core agrobiodiversity policy-re- lated elements. These five core elements can serve as entry points for collaboration between the two countries to advance capacity building, exchange of knowledge and experiences, policy development, and research. Under each of the core elements, the Sino-German Agrobiodiver- sity Network formulated some expert recom- mendations (in italics), some of which are of par- ticular relevance for China. 1. A complementary strategy: long-term con- servation, promotion, and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity through ex situ, in situ, on- farm conservation, and various types of plant breeding • Establish the mechanism of Payments of Agrobiodiversity Conservation Services, through which farmer communities, com- munity seed banks, and seed saver organi- zations can apply for funding to implement local agrobiodiversity initiatives • Legal recognition of and technical support for community seed banks and organized seed savers groups or associations to prac- tice and strengthen in situ and on-farm conservation activities, exchange knowledge and experiences among them- selves, and create public awareness about agrobiodiversity • Creation of nature reserves or biospheres, as a kind of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Management Measure under the Convention on Biological Diversity, where the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity are combined through the involvement of the local population and relevant stakeholders (China) 2. Adding value to the sustainable use of ag- robiodiversity: effective and responsible value chains for agricultural genetic resources, e.g. through local product development • Support direct marketing of local agrobiodi- versity-based products, e.g. through public procurement schemes • Establish a program for regional value chain coordination that brings value chain actors together to develop and promote novel ag- robiodiversity-based quality products 3. Sustaining agrobiodiversity through agroe- cology: maintaining sustainable ecological balances and ecosystems services over time through agroecological practices and inte- grated plant protection measures • Develop regulations for the integration of old plant varieties in agroecological prac- tices, such as agroforestry, crop rotation, and intercropping • Promote, support, and train national exten- sion services in the use of agroecological practices that reduce or make no use at all of chemical fertilizers and pesticides 4. The indispensable link: connecting the con- servation and sustainable use of agrobiodi- versity to resilient seed system development • Promote and support regional networks of on-farm experiments for the evaluation, se- lection, and improvement of important local varieties, implemented by farmer associa- tions, community seed banks, and seed saver groups Conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in China and Germany – 10 – 5. Creating synergy: promoting and fostering multi-stakeholders, inter-ministerial, inter- sectoral consultation, knowledge exchange, and collaboration • Establish a national, multi-stakeholder ag- robiodiversity committee (China) • Promote and support trans-disciplinary, on-farm agrobiodiversity research with a long-time horizon to monitor trends, ad- dress challenges, and identify opportunities for conservation and sustainable use • Support the establishment of a global infor- mation platform about community seed banks and their collections Acknowledgement We thank the members of the Sino-German Ag- robiodiversity Network for their contributions to the agrobiodiversity policy dialogue carried out during 2024. References Bai K., Li G., Song, Y., Yang, Y., Zhang, Z., Ver- nooy, R. 2024. The conservation of plant genetic resources in China. In: Al-Khayri, J., Mohan Jain, S., Suprasana Penna, S.M. (Eds.) Sustainable uti- lization and conservation of plant genetic diver- sity. 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