1. Members of the Working Group
The current composition of the Working Group is as follows:
President: P. Berg (Norway)
Vice president: C. Danchin-Burge (France)
Members: I. Curik (Croatia), S.J. Hiemstra (the Netherlands), P. Berg (Denmark), J. Ramljack (Croatia), E. Stuaro (Italy) and G. Hadjipavlou (Cyprus)
Observers: representatives of FAO and ERFP Secretariat
2. Meetings of WG-AnGR
The Working Group had one meeting during EAPP Dubrovnik 2018, a meeting during EAAP Ghent 2019, exchanges by email and Skype, and bilateral meetings between members of the EAAP-WG-AnGR during the year depending on the activities and involvement of WG members.
3. EAAP 2019 Ghent
Session 1. What to conserve?. (Chair: P. Berg) Date: 26 August 2019 8.30 – 12.30 Common session proposed and organised by the WG-AnGR with 14 contributed talks (other 14 contributions as posters).
This session was evaluated as being successful for the attendance and the quality of the talks, specially having in mind it was in competition with a major session (Novelties in genomic selection). This overlap was unfortunate but was difficult to plan a different way since our session needs to be Monday morning and the Genetics comission has many sessions to allocate.
Session 11. Awareness of the importance of Genetic Resources. (Chair: R. Baumung) Date: 26 August 2019 14.00 – 18.00
Challenge session proposed and organised by the WG-AnGR in collaboration with ERFP and FAO. Four invited speakers (Anne Lauvie, Beate Berger, Monserrat Castellanos and Maria Wurzinger) presented their vision on the topic and particular initiatives to promote the awareness at different levels. Afterwards there was a debate between the speakers and the audience.
Session 33. Burning issues in biodiversity I: what are the benefits from animal gene banks?. (Chair: A. Maki-Tanila) Date: 28 August 2019 8.30 – 12.30
Originally proposed by the WG AnGR in the end was organised by the project IMAGE to present the results on the advances in the creation and use of gene banks developed during this project (in its last year).
4. Working Group proposals for EAAP-2019 -Ghent
The Working Group AnGR of EAAP suggested several topics for EAAP 2020 in Porto:
1. ‘Governance of the Genetic Resources’. In the format of a Challenge session (probably half), The sustainability of activities related to Animal Genetic Resources management depends largely on the decisions of a range of stakeholders, from individual breeders to national governments and international companies. These
decisions shape the use, the evolution and ultimately the existence of those resources.The aim of this session would be to investigate the links between the governance of livestock population and their sustainable management in its different aspects. We will consider various drivers such as technological development, forms of organization, national and international policies, as well as potential impacts at different levels, for instance in terms of economic outcome (for breeders or other stakeholders), or genetic consequences (phenotypic or genotypic, at individual or population scale).
Potential invited speakers: Julie Labatut (INRA)/ Germain TESNIÈRE (CORAM) on institutional arrangement in the genomic area,Lewis Holloway (Hull University) on social interactions between technology and agriculture, Nathalie Aguilar Delgado (HEC Montreal) on biocultural protocols. This would be a session in colaboration with the ERFP and FAO.
2. ‘Global situation of the Genetic Resources in the Mediterranean area’. In colaboration with the Mediterranean WG and (still not confirmed) the Commission of Livestock Farming System it would explore the level of development of the initiatives and policies on the Genetic Resources in the countries in the Mediterranean area. Contributors would be encouraged to present case studies of especific programs.
5. Participation in the project GenRes Bridge
Funded by the EU, in January 2019 a project has been launched for the creation of a network joining the corresponding entities dealing with the conservation and utilisation of the forest, crops and animal Genetic Resources (ECPGR, EUFORGEN and ERFP).
The WG AnGR is involved in this projects in two ways:
– The EAAP has been invited to be part of the External Advisory Board of such project. The WG An GR has offered the Secretary of the EAAP its collaboration to help in the development of its duty in the Board.
– Some members of the WG are partners of the project and are working actively in the development of its activities.
6. Papers on the success of already running conservation programs
Promoted by G. Leroy from FAO, some members of the WG have participated in the study about the determination of the degree of success or effectivity of conservation plans that are in operation in Europe. The study includes different species/breeds in several countries. A first paper titled ‘Coancestry rate’s estimate of effective population size for genetic variability monitoring’ is already published (Leroy, G., Gicquel, E., Boettcher, P. et al. Conservation Genet Resources, 2019). A second paper is in the second round of revision in the journal Animal, edited by the EAAP (Impact of conservation plans on genetic variability of livestock breeds: Relevance of effective population sizes).
7. Special fee for Porto
We have contacted the local organisers of the next two EAAP meetings in Porto and Davos to explore the possibility (as it happened in previous meetings) of having a special fee for people only attending the session organized by the WG An GR on Monday morning. This way it would be easier for the NC’s to assist after the General Assembly of the ERFP which usually take place the weekend before the EAAP meeting. Initially they think this could be possible.
Additionally, we have already asked the Secretariat of the EAAP the possibility of including this special fee regularly in the agreements with the local organisers from 2022 and beyond.