ICAR-NBPGR Co-organizes a Brainstorming Meeting at New Delhi (August 28, 2017)

A brainstorming meeting on Strategies for Implementation of ‘Delhi Declaration on Agrobiodiversity Management’ in India, was held on August 28, 2017 at NAAS Lecture Hall, NASC Complex, New Delhi. The meeting was organized by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources (ISPGR), in collaboration with Bioversity International, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Science (TAAS), Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) and Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (ISGPB). The objective was to chalk out a plan for effective implementation of the 12-point Delhi Declaration on Agrobiodiversity Management, adopted by the participants of the 1st International Agrobiodiversity Congress (IAC 2016). The meeting envisaged development of a roadmap for conservation and utilization of genetic resources in tandem with Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), Aichi Targets and National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs). The meeting was attended by 97 participants belonging to ICAR institutes, NBA, PPV&FRA, State Biodiversity Boards, CGIAR centers and experts in various field of agrobiodiversity management.
Dr T Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) and Dr RS Paroda, Chairman (TAAS) and President (ISPGR) co-chaired the meeting. In the first session, Dr Meena Kumari, Chairperson of NBA, Directors of five genetic resources bureau (Drs Kuldeep Singh, Arjava Sharma, Kuldeep Lal, Anil Saxena and Chandish R Ballal, Dr RC Agrawal, Registrar General of PPV&FRA and Dr NK Krishna Kumar, Regional Representative of Bioversity International made detailed presentations on the on-going research and service activities, how they meet the recommendations of Delhi Declaration as well as perceived gaps. They also presented possible action plan. In the second session, experts provided inputs for determining a roadmap for achieving the recommendations of Delhi Declaration. Experts included Drs AK Srivastava, (Chairman, ASRB), RB Singh (Chancellor, CAU, Imphal), RS Rana (Member, NBA), JS Sandhu (President, ISGPB) and Mr Ajay Vir Jakhar (Chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj).
Dr RS Paroda in his remarks emphasized the need for action based on coordinated efforts across implementing agencies. He urged participants to ensure work towards sustainable use of agrobiodiversity, without any delay.
In his concluding remarks, Dr T Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) appreciated the efforts in organizing the IAC 2016, adoption of Delhi Declaration on Agrobiodiversity Management during the IAC 2016 and the follow up with a brainstorming meeting to implement suitable strategies. He informed that institutes and Bureaux of ICAR have already been working in the direction of fulfilling the spirit of Delhi Declaration. However, he emphasized that it was essential to position the ongoing activities in a framework to identify the strengths and gaps in order to best achieve agrobiodiversity targets enshrined in SDGs and the recommendations of Delhi Declaration.