The current book is a celebration of 40 years of Nordic collaboration on plant genetic resources. International perspectives are highlighted and the first chapter is written with input from Axel Diederichsen from Plant Gene Resources of Canada and Igor G. Loskutov from the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), and the chapter traces lines back to the pioneers and with a specific focus on Vavilov and how he had influenced scientists in the Nordic countries. Roland von Bothmer and Peter Tigerstedt give an overview of the Nordic plant breeding and genetic resources. Jens Weibull discusses the role of NGB (and NordGen) in the European genebank collaboration. A special section is given to a historical recap of how NGB worked with the Gatersleben gene bank in the early 1980s, at a time when computers were large and collaboration with GDR was not straight forward for western countries, and this section is written with inputs from Jan Engels (former Bioversity International) and Helmut Knüpffer (former IPK Gatersleben). The data management systems at NGB and NordGen are discussed by inputs from Dag Endresen (former IT leader at NGB, now at University of Oslo). We also have chapters on the collaboration with VIR and the Baltic States, the 100-years experiment on seed longevity in permafrost, and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Regarding the collections, Roland von Bothmer gives the story of the international Hordeum and Triticeae project and Udda Lundqvist of the Swedish Barley Mutant Collection. The celebration book is finished by chapters on the NordGen's Plant Genetic Resource Collection of today with perspectives on conservation and use, amongst others the ongoing Public-Private Partnership project, written by the current staff at the genebank and Anders Nilsson at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp. A special thanks to Helmut Knüpffer, Kit Lundborg, Roland von Bothmer and Sara Landqvist for their comments and proof-readings of this book.

The land-use sector serves key environmental and social functions and supports the livelihoods of around a half of the world’s population. Despite its importance, however, the climate regime fails to formulate a coherent vision or set of incentives for mitigation and adaptation from the sector. The negotiation of a future climate treaty that will take effect in 2020 presents a key opportunity to improve the current system and create an integrated accounting and incentive framework for adaptation and mitigation strategies across all land-uses. This report - conducted by Climate Focus together with UNIQUE forestry and land use - analyses the current status of the land-use sector under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, and formulates options for how various incentives and systems could be harmonized under a future climate treaty.

Climate change has already resulted in challenges for Nordic agriculture and the difficulties will continue to increase in the future. It is therefore important to act now to adapt our agriculture to future conditions, especially since the development of new crop varieties takes a long time (8-15 years).

In this report, based on a workshop with the leading researchers and plant breeders in the Nordic region, nine specific recommendations are listed. The recommendations have the main goal to support future food security in the Nordic countries by facilitating the development of new crop varieties adapted to our future needs. Special attention is given to the challenge of adaptation to climate change and high-quality food and feed production.

NordGen is the Nordic Countries' common gene bank and knowledge centre for genetic resources. This brochure collects examples of how the Nordic seed collection is being used and why it's important to preserve a genetic diversity within cultivated plants, farm animals and in forests. 

NordGen är de nordiska ländernas gemensamma genbank och kunskapscenter för genetiska resurser. Denna broschyr samlar exempel på hur den nordiska frösamlingen kommer till nytta och varför det är så viktigt att bevara genetisk mångfald inom våra odlade växter, våra jordbruksdjur och i vår skog. 

The brown bee, Apis mellifera mellifera, is the honey bee subspecies that occurs natively in the Nordic region. In the 20th century, other honey bee subspecies were introduced to this region by beekeepers. Today, the native brown bee is endangered due to displacement and introgression by these other subspecies.The conservation of genetic diversity is imperative for maintaining future adaptive potential. Bees are not only important farm animals due to their honey production, but also due to their pollination services. Roughly a third of the world’s crop production is based on insect-pollinated plant species and honey bees represent an important pollinator.

In 2014, the Nordic Genetic Resource Center published a report on the current status and conservation of the Nordic brown bee. This final report of an international ad-hoc working group, consisting of beekeepers, researchers and members of national beekeeping organizations came to the conclusion that cooperation amongst actors and coordination atthe national and international level in the conservation of the brown bee is of utmost importance. More specifically, consistent characterization of bee populations in the Nordic region to facilitate exchange of breeding material where necessary and development and promotion of brown bee specific management techniques were identified as important conservation measures. The ultimate goal is to have viable populations of brown bees, with characteristics that beekeepers value, in each of the Nordic countries. A priority list of recommended actions for the conservation of the brown bee in the Nordic region was compiled for the first time in 2015 and updated in this second version in 2019.