ENB:09:68

PROGRESS REPORT ON THE GLOBAL SYSTEM (AGENDA ITEM 5)

The Secretariat presented the Progress Report on the Global System for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of PGRFA (CGRFA-7/97/3) and called on the Commission to provide guidance in the following areas:

• cooperation between the CGRFA/FAO and the CBD and United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in the area of agro-biodiversity;

• the implications of its broadened mandate for various components of the Global System, in particular the scope of the World Information and Early Warning System;

• review and monitoring of the implementation of the Global Plan of Action (GPA) for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of PGRFA (including funding and/or financing mechanisms);

• periodic updating of the State of the World Report on PGRFA; and

• codes of conduct and guidelines for germplasm collecting and transfer, the extension of existing agreements with the 12 CGIAR Centres in the context of the international network of ex situ collections under the auspices of FAO, and the role of crop-related and regional PGRFA networks in promoting the GPA.