The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) and the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) have entered into a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting collaboration in the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, with a specific focus on viticulture biodiversity.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on October 18th in Dijon during the 22nd OIV General Assembly by John Barker, Director General of the OIV, and Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of the FAO's International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. This formalises a year of productive exchanges between the two intergovernmental bodies.
Key Areas of Collaboration
The agreement highlights several areas where the OIV and ITPGRFA will work together, particularly in the context of addressing biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change on the viticulture sector. These areas include:
- Addressing the common concern about the impact of climate change and the need to adopt mitigation and adaptation measures to protect the grapevine genetic resources.
- Promoting scientific-technical knowledge as a basis for the formulation of policies and strategies that promote the sustainable development in viticulture.
- Identifying and encouraging best practices and technical guidelines on a broad spectrum of areas.
The MoU outlines several key areas of cooperation, focusing on addressing the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change in the vine and wine sector. To achieve these objectives both organisations will cooperate by facilitating scientific exchanges in the area of the technical tools, such as the Global Information System and the Digital Object Identifiers of ITPGRFA and the OIV Databases on the Vine Varieties and their Synonyms, the Ampelographic Descriptors and the Ampelographic Collections. Secondly, both organisations will discuss on strategies and recommendations for conservation of the grapevine genetic diversity and, finally, they will create capacity building initiatives trough scientific and technical seminars.
"Within the OIV, we strongly welcome this relationship with the FAO ITPGRFA," stresses John Barker. Kent Nnadozie considers that this MoU addresses "one of the most urgent challenges we face as humanity: ensuring genetic diversity in the face of climate change, diseases, pests, and biodiversity loss." The FAO's ITPGRFA Secretary highlights that "by joining forces with the OIV, we are opening doors to new opportunities for innovation. Our joint action is aimed at protecting and preventing the loss of grapevine diversity. Through this collaboration, we aim to achieve key objectives that will guide our work together in the coming years."
Both organisations view this agreement as a critical step toward enhancing the resilience and sustainability of viticulture worldwide, ensuring the conservation of grapevine genetic diversity for future generations.
