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Improving access to FORest GENetic resources Information and services for end-USers

Project description

Protecting Europe's forests through better data on forest genetic resources

European nations have been increasingly concerned with georeferenced information on the conservation of forest genetic resources. This is imperative as forests provide essential societal services, covering approximately a third of the European continent, sequestering 719 million tonnes of CO2. They also provide jobs to over 3 million people, generating revenue for 16 million forest owners. The EU-funded FORGENIUS project aims to develop methods and tools for greater insight into the characteristics and the value of forest genetic resources accessions presently existing in 35 European countries. The project will create novel services for users within and outside the conservation communities and will significantly increase and improve data quantity and quality in the European forest genetic resources information system.

Objective

Forests provide essential societal services: in Europe, they cover 33% of land area and sequester 719 million tonnes CO2; in the EU, they provide jobs to over 3 million people and revenue to 16 million forest owners.
These services rely on rich Forest Genetic Resources (Forest GenRes), which are managed in a coordinated way in Europe. The European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN), founded in 1994, is the most advanced programme of its kind, worldwide. Its main achievement is a continent-wide collection of in situ Forest GenRes accessions (http://portal.eufgis.org/) called Genetic Conservation Units (GCUs).
FORGENIUS will develop methods and tools for greater insight into the characteristics and the value of Forest GenRes accessions presently existing in 35 European countries, and linked through the EUFGIS Information System (http://portal.eufgis.eu). FORGENIUS will create novel services for users within and outside the conservation communities and will significantly increase and improve data quantity and quality in the European Forest Genetic Resources (Forest GenRes) information system that describes all accessions. The project’s newly developed services will also allow end-users to characterise prospective new genetic conservation units. To fulfil these needs, FORGENIUS will use state-of-the-art indices ranging from genomics and phenotyping to remote sensing and predictive models. FORGENIUS will achieve the following goals: i) assessing genetic, phenotypic, and environmental diversity, as well as resilience of the GCU collection under climate change; ii) providing scientific evidence to support management decisions that promote the resilience and adaptability of the collection; iii) characterising GCUs and their GenRes to identify high-quality germplasm for use in breeding and forest plantations; iv) creating innovative data accessibility and modelling services for users within and outside the Forest GenRes conservation communities.

Call for proposal

H2020-SFS-2018-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-SFS-2019-2

Coordinator

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT
Net EU contribution
€ 1 577 144,00
Address
147 RUE DE L'UNIVERSITE
75007 Paris
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 2 078 211,25

Participants (21)