INTRODUCTION
Lise Lykke Steffensen, NordGen's Executive Director, sums up the year of 2023.
As a research institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers, NordGen has an important social responsibility as we are working for the sustainable use and conservation of genetic resources that are important for Nordic agriculture and forestry. Climate change is currently happening faster than nature's ability to adapt, that is why our mission is more important than ever.
We have several important tasks ahead of us to ensure future biological climate-smart solutions, resilience in our ecosystems and to increase the competitiveness in the Nordic countries. NordGen plays an important role in this complex work at a time when society faces major challenges: to mitigate the effects of climate change, reduce the loss of biodiversity, the need for a more plant-based diet. There is also a desire for an increased food self-sufficiency in the Nordic countries, something that is becoming increasingly obvious due to the war in Ukraine.
Fudamental Element for Human Life
NordGen plays an important role in this complex work at a time when society faces major challenges.
Genetic diversity is a fundamental element for long-term and stable solutions, so that we can produce food, feed, fibers, energy, building materials, medicine and much more in the future. This is precisely why we work with conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources, tasks that requires knowledge and insight.
The year 2023 was a busy year with strengthened and new collaborations with universities, private companies and international organizations. It was the year when NordGen became the focal point for conferences, networks, workshops and other meeting places for knowledge exchange. Many new contacts, consortia and, not least, projects were created during the year. These collaborations will generate new research that will contribute to a sustainable development in the Nordic Region.
Group photo from the NordGen PPP Conference.
Strategy
In 2023, NordGen began the first year of the current strategy period 2023-2025. In the strategy, NordGen continues with its conservation activities, and at the same time prioritizes research-based work focusing on documentation, characterization and evaluation of the genetic resources. During the year 2023, there has been particular focus on three major areas:
1. Research in collaboration with the profession and universities.
2. Reduction of back-logs.
3. Use and documentation of the genetic resources within farm animals and plants in particular.
All three areas have a major impact on the work at NordGen. At the same time, it has been a year in which great results have again been achieved for NordGen's entire operations. Read more about these activities in the following pages.
Some of the beans that were grown by NordGen for characterization during 2023.
ABOUT NORDGEN
Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) is the Nordic Knowledge Center for plant, animal and forest genetic resources as well as the Nordic genebank for seeds and plants. The institution was established in 2008 as a merger between the Nordic Genebank (established 1979), Nordic Genebank for Farm Animals (established 1983) and the Nordic Council for Forest Reproductive Material (NSFP) (established 1970).
As a knowledge center, research institution and genebank, NordGen's mission is to safeguard the Nordic genetic resources and facilitate the sustainable use for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, for current and future generations. The mission also includes providing knowledge and genetic material to facilitate sustainable food and feed production and other biobased solutions in the Nordic region’s changing climate.
As a knowledge center, NordGen also promotes collaboration between farm animals, plants, forest and the environmental area as well as disseminates knowledge and raises awareness about genetic resources. NordGen also promotes management and competences within the three disciplines.
NordGen provides technical advice and information to decision makers in the Nordic countries in national and Nordic collaborations and international negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources.
NordGen has a special responsibility for conserving and documenting genetic variation of Nordic material to ensure biodiversity and sustainable use of genetic resources. As early as 1979, the Nordic countries decided that a joint Nordic genebank for plants should conserve and facilitate the utilization of national plant genetic resources.
In the 2004 Kalmar Declaration, the Nordic countries have adopted the basis for how NordGen should manage access and rights to genetic resources. All accessions in the genebank, except for collections held by NordGen for other genebanks, are under joint Nordic management and are a common good.
The genebank's seed collection should contribute to more resilience and new solutions to avoid biodiversity loss and contribute to increased use of genetic resources to achieve sustainable climate solutions, robust food and feed supply including new protein sources, better health and sustainable ecosystem services. At the same time, efforts will be made to improve documentation by characterizing and evaluating the seed collection, so that more data becomes available to the Nordic community.
NordGen manages the program Nordic Public Private Partnership for Pre-breeding (PPP), which aims to support the development of Nordic plant pre-breeding.
NordGen has the operational responsibility for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
Figure 1: Organogram – NordGen.
KNOWLEDGE CENTER
As the Nordic knowledge center for genetic resources, NordGen participates in and leads research projects, arranges outreach activities and shares information with relevant stakeholders concerning conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources important for food and agriculture. NordGen is also participating in several Nordic, European and International networks and commissions.
Our most important tools for exchanging knowledge within the Nordic countries are our working groups and councils. The different working groups of NordGen Plants, the working group and the council of NordGen Forest and the council of NordGen Farm Animals are vital advisory groups consisting of experts within each field from all the Nordic countries. The Board of NordGen also provides valuable input and knowledge exchange. Information is disseminated through our website nordgen.org, social media, project reports, press releases, arranged events, network meetings and targeted e-mails.
Followers Social Media | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
Instagram | 2.470 | 3.014 |
Facebook | 3.789 | 4.300 |
LinkedIn | 1.994 | 2.732 |
Twitter | 1.610 | 1.951 |
In 2023, NordGen continued developing its competence within digitalization considerably. Video online meetings and seminars has increased the bridgebuilding over country borders, both internally and externally. Externally, our digital competence has enabled us to reach a wider audience that can take part in important knowledge sharing events concerning genetic resources without having to spend time and resources on travelling. It is expected that NordGen will continue to use these digital options at future events.
During the year the work with the new website continued. The site is now easier to navigate, more visually appealing and in accordance with the new European web accessibility rules. It also has, apart from a Scandinavian and English version, a Finnish version enabling us to reach members of a very important target group in their native tongue.
Table 1: Social media statistics, numbers from the month December.
The NordGen Day
On June 16 2023, NordGen celebrated its 15th anniversary with "The NordGen Day" together with invited guests to the head quarter in Alnarp. The program included tours of the main building with the laboratories, excursions of the greenhouse and field cultivations, festivities and informations stands on NordGen's entire operations. The day was successful with about 100 participating guests.
Some of the highlights during the NordGen Day: field excursion of flax cultivation, information stands on NordGen activities, presentation of the Nordic potato collection and the welcome introduction.
Other Visits and External Events
The new main office in Alnarp was inagurated in 2022, these new facilites offers new opportuinities for receiving short term and long term visitors. In 2023, we noted a continued high interest in visiting NordGen. During the year there were many visits from journalists, politicians, students, companies as well as other European and international genebanks. In 2023 NordGen also organized several workshops, one such example was a seed laboratory workshop for genebanks in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia, in collaboration with the Crop Trust projcect "Seeds for Resilience". We also designed longer training programs for genebanks colleagues in Thailand and Ukraine (read more about the last example in Projects).
During 2023, NordGen staff also participated in several external events by other organizers to inform about our operations. For example we were present during the Nordic Council Session in Oslo and at the Icelandic democracy festival "Fundur fólksins" in Reykjavik.
In the following pages, our different sections and their activities during 2023 will be introduced.
