Training for ex situ conservation by CARE-MEDIFLORA partners in collaboration with IUCN-Med in progress

11 July 2017

Ex situ conservation techniques are not yet sufficiently known in some institutions in the South and East of the Mediterranean. In order to help fill this gap, IUCN-Med as part of the the IPAMed project (Important Plant Areas of the Mediterranean Region), in collaboration with CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) in Crete and Hortus Botanicus Karalitanus (HBK) in Sardinia as part of the CARE-MEDIFLORA project, have offered to representatives of 11 partner institutions from 7 countries of the South and East of the Mediterranean practical trainings on the application of these techniques. All the trainees are involved in conservation actions focused on rare or threatened species which require ex situ conservation techniques.

A total of 8 two-week training periods have been planned for 14 scientists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Turkey during spring – autumn 2017. So far three trainings for 6 scientists have been successfully completed at the Sardinian Germplasm Bank for HBK and Seed Bank of Mediterranean Plant Conservation Unit (MPCU) for MAICh.

Training at the Seed Bank of MAICh of scientists from Palestine and Egypt (top row), May 2017, and Turkey and Lebanon (bottom row), June 2017: seed curation, germination tests and seed collection.