Table 1.

Historical events of relevance to the establishment and evolution of the global PGRFA conservation, including the international network of base collections.

Year	Event	Main Outputs and (References)	Underpinning Principles (Reference)
Since 1920	Establishment of first genebanks	VIR, St. Petersburg (1920); Commonwealth Potato Collection, Cambridge (<2nd World War); research collections by Rockefeller Foundation, USA (1943); Fort Collins, CO, USA (1958) [12]	Recognition of genetic erosion in landraces by [14]
1926	Publication Studies on the Origin of Cultivated Plants by N. Vavilov	Monograph in Bulletin of Applied Botany and Plant-Breeding; [11]	‘This monograph, dedicated to the memory of De Candolle, seems to be the most substantial contribution made since his day to the history of our main cultivated plants’ [23].
1960	Founding of IRRI	Jointly established by Government of the Philippines’ and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations [24]	One of the first international genebanks; focus on rice genepool.
1961	Technical Meeting on Plant Exploration and Introduction, FAO Rome	Report of the meeting [15]	Mission-driven approach: conservation and use closely linked, tied to plant breeding, dominance of ex situ collections, mainly in developed countries.
1965	Establishment of the FAO Panel of Experts on Plant Exploration and Introduction.	Six meetings and reports of same during period from 1967–1975 [16]	Formulation of criteria, standards, and procedures for the conservation and use of PGR.
1966	Formal establishment of CIMMYT	Joint Mexican—Ford Foundation breeding project in progress since 1943 [25]	Norman Borlaug awarded Nobel Peace Prize (as wheat breeder) in 1970.
1966	EUCARPIA meeting	Recommendation to foster continental collaboration through the establishment of four sub-regional genebanks in Europe [12]	First indications of establishing a (global) conservation system or network.
1967	FAO/IBP (first) Technical Conference on Plant Exploration, Utilization and Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources, Rome	Publication of Genetic Resources in Plants—Their Exploration and Conservation [18]	Need for surveys; concern about genetic erosion of landraces and wild relatives; long-term ex situ collections; guidelines for establishment of global network for ex situ long-term conservation; international collaboration; in situ conservation as a complementary strategy.
1969	Third Session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Plant Exploration and Introduction, Rome	Report [3]	Establishment of collecting priorities by crops (and later) by regions.
1971	Second FAO Technical Conference on crop genetic resources, Rome, Italy	Book on Crop Genetic Resources for Today and Tomorrow [19]	Plan of action agreed; panel of experts formulated basic criteria for conservation and use of genetic material (availability; maintaining genetic variability for the long-term; categorizing ex situ collections: base, active, and working collections.
1973	FAO/IBP Technical Conference on Genetic Resources, Rome, Italy	Plan of Action [19]	Recommendation to establish in situ collections.
1974	Establishment of IBPGR	Established as secretariat for its board of trustees, administered by FAO and, technically, as one of the international centres of the CGIAR [26]	Expected to coordinate global exploration and collecting efforts and to orchestrate a global network of genebanks.
1981	Third FAO, UNEP and IBPGR Technical Conference on PGR, Rome, Italy	Report [21]	Clear focus on routine genebank operations; in vitro and in situ (CWRs) conservation; concerns about NUS.
1983	22nd Session of the FAO Conference, Rome, Italy	Adoption of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources; establishment of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) and of the Global System on Plant Genetic Resources [27]	Shared principles; IU non-legally binding; PGRs are a common heritage of humankind; genetic stocks and breeding lines included; germplasm exchange through a network of genebanks; commission provides oversight to system.
1989	3rd Regular Session of Commission on GRFA, Rome, Italy	Call for the development of the International Network of Ex Situ Collections under the Auspices of FAO [28]	Lack of clarity regarding the legal situation of the ex situ collections.
1989	25th Session of the FAO Conference, Rome, Italy	Resolution 4/89: Adoption of an agreed interpretation of the IU; Resolution 5/89: Farmers’ Rights [29]	Plant breeders’ rights are not inconsistent with IU; recognition of Farmers’ Rights.
1991	26th Session of the FAO Conference, Rome, Italy	Resolution 3/91 [30]	Recognition of the sovereign rights of nations over their PGRFA; agreement on development of 1st State of the World’s PGRFA and Global Plan of Action on PGR.
1992	UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (entered into force on 29 December 1993);	Biodiversity vs. genetic resources; national sovereignty of states over their resources.
		Chapter 14 of Agenda 21	Call for the strengthening of the FAO Global System on Plant Genetic Resources.
		Chapter 16 of Agenda 21	Biotechnology can assist in the conservation of biological resources (e.g., ex situ techniques); risk assessment of LMOs, biosafety issues.
		Adoption of Resolution 3 of the Nairobi Final Act [31]	Recognises matters not addressed by the convention: a. access to existing ex situ collections; b. questions on Farmers’ Rights; requests FAO forum to address these matters.
1994	1st Extraordinary Session of the CGRFA, Rome	Start of negotiations for revision of IU; 12 centres of CGIAR sign agreement with FAO, placing their collections under the Auspices of FAO [32])	CGIAR centres agree to hold the designated germplasm in trust for the benefit of the international community.
1996	4th International Technical Conference on PGR, Leipzig, Germany	Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of PGRFA [21]; First Report on the State of the World’s PGRFA [33]	Recognition of in situ and ex situ approaches; fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of PGRFA.
2001	31st Session of the FAO Conference, Rome, Italy	Resolution 3/2001: adoption of the International Treaty (entered into force on 11 September 2004) [34]	A legally binding agreement; recognition of Farmers’ Rights (a national responsibility); access and benefit-sharing
2004	Establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust	Endowment fund, the income from which will be used to support the conservation of distinct and important crop diversity in perpetuity through existing institutions [35].	Coordinates the Genebank Platform (of the CGIAR operated genebanks)
2006	First meeting of the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA, Madrid, Spain	Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA); relationship between the Treaty and the Crop Trust; agreement between GB and CGIAR centres (Art. 15) [36].	SMTA is the legal instrument through which the MLS operates; recognition of the Crop Trust as an ‘essential element’ of the Treaty’s funding strategy; ex situ genebank collections of CGIAR are put under the Treaty (replacing agreement between CG centres and FAO).
2008	Establishment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault	Agreement [37].	Additional safety back-up for long-term ex situ collections.
2009	12th Regular Session of the CGRFA, Rome, Italy	Second Report on the State of the World’s PGRFA [38]	Report developed through a participatory approach with member countries
2011	143rd Session of the FAO Council, Rome, Italy	Second Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of PGRFA [39]	Need for a roadmap on climate change and genetic resources for food and agriculture