Eastern Anatolia Watershed Project

closed

This subproject would seek to identify and establish in-situ conservation areas in Turkey, for the protection of genetic resources and wild relatives of important crops and forest tree species that originated in Turkey. It will provide for sustainable in-situ conservation of genetic resources in cereals, horticultural crops, medicinal plants, forest trees, and pasture grasses and legumes through an integrated ecosystem approach. It will also contribute to the broader objective of conserving sustainable farming and forest systems that is a key element of the Watershed Rehabilitation project. The project will develop the institutional capacity in Turkey for preparing and implementing a national strategy for in-situ conservation which could include landraces in a second phase project, for which support from the GET will be sought. The aim is to test and develop a new approach to conservation of genetic diversity which has not been tried on a large scale anywhere in the world.