ACTIONS
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Cultural participation/social inclusion
- Sustainable tourism
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions
- Waste management and reduction
- Transport (forms of, energy use)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
SDGs
- Publication/report
- Toolkit/framework/roadmap
- Sign-post to other resource (database)
Voluntary Guidelines for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Farmers' Varieties/Landraces
Intended Audience
“Development practitioners, researchers, students and policy-makers who work on the conservation and sustainable use of [plant genetic resources for food and agriculture]”
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
“The cultivation of diverse farmers’ varieties/landraces, which tend to be well-adapted and suited to local production systems, confers increased resilience for crop production. Farmers’ varieties/landraces are also potential sources of traits for crop improvement, especially for developing varieties tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses and for incorporating farmer-preferred traits. Unfortunately, many of these genetic resources have been replaced by modern cultivars in recent decades, resulting in a reduction in the total number of different varieties grown and/or loss of heterogeneity. Such losses make farming systems less resilient, especially to shocks from abiotic and biotic stresses. These guidelines, intended as reference materials for preparing a National Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Farmers’ Varieties/Landraces, will contribute to addressing this continuing loss of diversity. The guidelines are therefore a useful tool for development practitioners, researchers, students and policy-makers who work on the conservation and sustainable use of these valuable resources” (back cover)
“These voluntary Guidelines are specifically aimed to serve as a reference for national authorities developing and strengthening the conservation and sustainable use of farmers’ varieties/landraces. They are primarily intended for staff associated with national PGRFA [plant genetic resources for food and agriculture] programmes, but may also be of use for universities and research organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers and/or farmers’ organizations and other partnering institutions of national authorities. The guidelines consist of a simple set of steps and methods to guide the formulation of a National Plan. To promote systematic, coordinated and integrated ex situ conservation and on-farm management of farmers’ varieties/landraces, the guidelines consist of a simple set of steps and methods to guide the formulation of a National Plan for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Farmers’ Varieties/Landraces.” (p.13)
Avaiable in
- English
Actions
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
SDGs LINKAGES
The resource can help inform a range of activities relating to collections-based institutions preserving and/or storing plant material and providing educational programmes related to agriculture. These contribute towards a number of SDG targets including:
1.4 (access to property, including crop heritage), 2.5 (ensuring fair sharing of benefits from use of crops and traditional knowledge), 9.1 (inclusive infrastructure that supports economic development, with a focus on equitable access), 9.5 (promoting scientific research), 11.4 (strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage), 16.10 (on ensuring the right to information and protecting other fundamental freedoms), 16.B (upholding laws and adopting policies for sustainable development), 17.16 (international partnerships) and 17.17 (cross-sector partnerships).
The resource can also help to understand the context regarding target 15.6 (fair sharing of benefits from use of genetic resources). The resource can also help support the development of knowledge and attitudes regarding traditional agriculture and agricultural methods (4.4, 4.7), also contributing to SDGs 12.8 and 13.3.
Preservation of crop and plant diversity contributes towards Disaster Risk Reduction and sustainable agriculture, reducing the impact of climate and other disasters on poor people (SDG 1.5), ensuring people have reliable access to food (SDG 2.1), enhancing agricultural productivity (SDG 2.3), sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices (SDG 2.4), reducing the impact of disasters (11.5), strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change and natural disasters (13.1).
The focus on planning at a national level contributes to SDG 13.2 (climate change planning at national level).
Click on the SDG Target to discover Our Collections Matter indicators
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers and proportions of people from particular groups using collections in comparison with demographics in broader society.
- Numbers of people accessing collections.
- Number of targeted programmes that aim to enhance access to collections by disadvantaged groups.
- Sustainable tourism that enhances local communities’ access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property (including cultural and natural heritage), as well as to technology and markets.
- Involvement of people from disadvantaged groups in decision-making activities and processes relating to collections and collections-based institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of collecting programmes that aim to build resilience to climate-related events and other shocks and disasters, for example by forming collections that can contribute to related educational and research programmes.
- Number of educational programmes drawing on collections that incorporate resilience perspectives.
- Number of targeted programmes drawing on collections that are aimed at vulnerable groups, to build their resilience to climate-related and other shocks and disasters.
- Number of research programmes drawing on collections that are aimed at building resilience to climate-related and other shocks and disasters.
- Strengthen the resilience of employees, communities and suppliers by paying at a minimum the living wage and offering insurance to employees and their families, such as accident insurance; and by paying fair prices to all suppliers.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of educational programmes incorporating food security, nutrition and seasonal diet perspectives.
- Collections development related to food security, nutrition and seasonal diets, as appropriate.
- Number of targeted educational, awareness-raising and partnership programmes relating to food and nutrition, drawing on collections, aimed at vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Number of research activities drawing on collections that relate to resilient agricultural practices, helping mitigate and adapt to climate change, flooding and other disasters.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development that can support programmes related to small-scale food producers, for example by ensuring that traditional knowledge is preserved and maintained.
- Number of educational, awareness-raising, research and partnership programmes based on collections that support small-scale food producers, both in terms of supporting the producers themselves, and that support others to support them.
- Policies and plans in place to ensure that tourism activities support (and do not infringe upon) people’s rights of access to land for agricultural purposes.
- Provide markets for small-scale food producers’ products.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development related to sustainable food production where appropriate.
- Number of educational and awareness-raising programmes incorporating sustainable food production perspectives, and that aim to reduce the impact of disasters on communities.
- Number of targeted programmes that support those most exposed and vulnerable to disasters, whether locally or farther afield.
- Number of research activities drawing on collections that relate to resilient agricultural practices, helping mitigate and adapt to climate change, flooding and other disasters.
- Policies and plans in place to eliminate unsustainable food production from supply chains and in any food provision in collections-based institutions.
- Number of partnership activities drawing on collections that contribute to Disaster Risk Reduction plans, supporting resilient agricultural practices, and helping mitigate and adapt to climate change, flooding and other disasters.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development related to genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals (notably of local or at-risk varieties) and related wild species, for example in herbaria, museums, seed and gene banks, and seed libraries.
- Number of educational programmes related to genetic diversity of domesticated plants, animals and wild relatives.
- Number of educational programmes related to fair and equitable benefits of use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, following international agreements (e.g. Nagoya Protocol).
- Number of educational and awareness programmes for people to ensure that they are aware of their rights and protections in terms of traditional knowledge, and exploitation of genetic resources.
- Number of research activities that help understand traditional knowledge, and genetic diversity of crop plants and animals.
- Ensure that producers of crop plants and animals are fairly compensated.
- Policies and procedures in place to ensure seed banks are soundly managed, in terms of risk management and emergency planning.
- Policies and procedures in place to ensure legal compliance with fair and equitable benefits of use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, following international agreements (e.g. Nagoya Protocol).
- Number of partnerships at national, regional and international levels, as appropriate, to soundly manage seed and plant banks.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of young people and adults in skills-development activities and programmes drawing on collections, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
- Increase in number of young people and adults in such programmes.
- Number and proportion of staff who have received training in the last year, to better support their contribution to the SDGs.
- Programs and processes in place to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of people in each type of programme drawing on collections from different demographic groups.
- Increases in numbers of people in each type of programme from different demographic groups.
- Proportion of people involved in such programmes in relation to overall audience size.
- Evidence that learners have acquired knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Development of research-useful collections to support reliable, sustainable and resilient use by researchers and others.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that support economic development and human well-being.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that provide affordable and equitable access for all.
- Investment in collections facilities.
- Inclusion of collections information in regional and transborder initiatives, notably via digital access for discoverability.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of collections facilities that effectively support research and researchers.
- Number and proportion of staff who are appropriately skilled to undertake and support collections-based research.
- Expenditure on initiatives to enhance and upgrade collections facilities.
- Numbers of staff engaged in supporting and developing research use based on collections.
- Number of initiatives to encourage innovation drawing on collections.
- Increase in number of research and development workers per 1 million people.
- Increase in public and private research and development spending being used to develop and make use of collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by type of heritage.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the safe use of collections for a variety of purposes, protecting and safeguarding both collections and those who use them.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the identification, safeguarding and protection of cultural and natural heritage at risk.
- Collecting programmes in place to protect, safeguard and make use of cultural and natural heritage, addressing the needs of communities and stakeholders, and ensuring that collections can be an effective resource for sustainable development.
- Number and diversity of educational, awareness-raising, research programmes, and partnerships that aim to strengthen protection of cultural and natural heritage.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections-based research that supports the understanding and management of disasters of all kinds.
- Plans in place for public education and awareness drawing on collections and collections-based institutions to reduce exposure and vulnerability to disasters of all kinds.
- Plans in place to ensure collections-based institutions steadily work to reduce their contributions to disaster risk, for example by reducing pollution and waste of all kinds.
- Plans in place to ensure collections-based institutions, and people related to them (including workers) are protected from economic losses as a result of disasters.
- Plans in place to provide special support/protection to poor and vulnerable people and groups in and following disasters.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
- Extent to which global citizenship education and education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in formal, informal and non-formal education programmes and activities drawing on and related to collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans in place for near and longer term to withstand and actively adapt to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- National organisations, institutions and networks relating to collections and collections-based institutions to have integrated climate change measures into policies, strategies and planning relating to collections and collections-based institutions, including funding and other resourcing considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans in place to enhance positive contributions to addressing climate change through use of collections. Plans in place to ensure collections, collections institutions and broader society can adapt effectively to climate change.
- Plans in place for effective education and awareness raising on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
- Plans in place to reduce negative contributions of collections-related functions, e.g. measuring greenhouse emissions with plans and targets in place to reduce them.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Policies, plans and agreements in place for access and benefit sharing relating to use of collections, in line with the Nagoya Protocol (notably relating to natural history collections, gene banks, tissue banks, seed banks).
- Effective communication and dissemination methods in place to promote access to resources, and access to relevant policies, plans and agreements, in place.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to enhance public access to information relating to collections.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to support fundamental freedoms, in line with human rights, national and international agreements and legislation.
- Plans and procedures in place for public access to information relating to the operation and management of collections-based institutions.
- Complaint mechanism in place for public to use where public access to information and fundamental freedoms not supported or fulfilled.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of population [audience/users/non-users] reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
- Number and proportion of policies that incorporate sustainable development considerations, in the full sense of recognizing all three of social, economic and environmental considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships involving developing countries that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of local, national and regional multi-stakeholder (public, public-private and civil society) partnerships that address the SDGs drawing on collections, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.