Current political commitments’ challenges for ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture

This article is an overview regarding capacity building needs for supporting political commitments’ implementation and furthermore, the development of new political, technical and scientific measures for ensuring the proper conservation of biodiversity and considering in a cost-effective way ex situ conservation tools and methods. Domesticated and wild species, threatened and not threatened native species belonging to the natural capital, due to anthropic pressure and climate change may be drastically affected for their status of conservation in their ecosystems of origin. Thus, ex situ conservation is important to be taken into consideration for ensuring the proper conservation of native species. Still, ex situ conservation is a tool which is in use for many activities for many years such as: research, trade, industry, medicine, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Romania needs to further develop its specific legislation framework in specific domains such as trade of exotic and native threatened species as well as for other domains such as zoos and aquaria, seeds exchange between botanical gardens, bioprospecting, wild threatened species rescue, capture and reintroduction, collection, access for benefit sharing. Also for agriculture should be developed ex situ conservationmeasures closely connected with breeding programmes dedicated to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (i.e. gene banks conservation, breeding programmes, on farm conservation). Only by harmonizing at the legal level, based on science, all these specific domains, extremely sensitive, dealing with ex situ conservation it will be possible in the future to secure food and ecosanogenesis ensuring the appropriate status of in situ conservation of biodiversity as a whole. As it is not possible to apply conservation measures, either in situ either ex situ either both, to all species it is appropriate to further develop strategic tools for prioritizing our efforts in a cost effective manner.