Inclusion of most appropriate crop wild relative populations and sites from Serbia in European In situ Network

Crop wild relative (CWR) conservation planning has started in many European countries with some of them having developed national CWR conservation strategies. The development of the European PGRFA In Situ Conservation Network has been implemented through the H2020 "Farmer's Pride" project but it did not have sufficient funds to include all European countries. Funding is required to ensure those countries currently uninvolved are able to identify populations and sites, and prepare applications to join the European in situ PGRFA conservation network. The project "Inclusion of CWR sites in European in situ network" was approved for financing under ECPGR Activity Grant Scheme (Phase X) First Call for proposals. The aim is to improve national capacities for in situ PGRFA management in Lithuania, Cyprus, Albania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania, Croatia and Serbia. The joint effort from the ECPGR Working Group "Wild Species Conservation in Genetic Reserves" and the "Farmer's Pride" Project contributed to the development of European strategy for CWR conservation, National and European MAWP selection and thus biodiversity conservation. Mountain Fruška gora has been proposed for inclusion as the MAWP site, while wild garlic - Allium ursinum and a sunflower CWR - Helianthus tuberosus have been proposed as the MAWP populations from Serbia for the European CWR in situ Network.