With funding from the UK Darwin Initiative from 2018 to 2021, forestry authorities and research organisations from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, and China collaborate to safeguard the genetic resources of three Dalbergia rosewood species of high conservation concern (Dalbergia cochinchinensis, D. cultrata, and D. oliveri). The project aims to improve capacity for seed collection, seed sourcing, and nursery management. The project will also build the capacity of rural households to generate livelihood benefits from the sustainable use of these resources.
Involvement and capacity strengthening of secure government agencies, rural households and community-based organisations will ensure a lasting legacy that will realise most or all of the following expected changes:
Short-term changes expected:
- Forest authorities will begin to apply new methods, tools, capacity and enhanced collaboration in the identification of genetic conservation priorities, as well as multiplication methods and material for plantation and restoration. They will also engage rural households and community-based organisations in conservation and forest restoration
- Women and men in local communities will benefit from strengthened community-based organisations
Long-term changes expected:
- Development and implementation of vegetative propagation will make the planting material supply more reliable
- Improved availability of quality, genetically diverse seed for planting and restoration will result in improved ecosystem services
- Community-based nurseries and seed enterprises will receive customer recognition for quality material, expanding income opportunities
- Other Asian countries and their communities will benefit from sharing project methods, tools, knowledge, training and experiences for adaptive management of forest genetic resources, to help meet national targets and international commitments for the UN Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
- Cross-country collaboration on rosewood conservation may strengthen efforts to reduce illegal cross-border trade in these species
The project is coordinated by University of Oxford and implemented in collaboration with the Institute of Forest and Wildlife Research and Development (Cambodia), the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (Lao PDR), the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (Thailand), the Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Bioversity International, and University of Copenhagen.
About us
APFORGEN is a regional programme and network with a holistic approach to the conservation and management of the Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) in the Asia-Pacific region
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APFORGEN Secretariat
c/o Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry
XiangShan Road, Dongxiaofu No.1, Haidian district,
Beijing, People's Republic of China