Safeguarding threatened coconut diversity within the upgraded International Coconut Genebank for the South Pacific

The Pacific Community (SPC) is a focal point for the project which will be implemented by partners from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and COGENT. The project agreement was signed in December 2020 and project activities will start in June 2021. The project objectives are to safeguard threatened germplasm within the ICG-SP by duplication in Fiji and Samoa and to empower farmers to implement in situ conservation of coconut diversity in each of the Pacific countries. Components of the project will involve training in-country, some virtual training, in vitro transfer and field genebank establishment in three countries. Key outcomes will be: (1) characterisation and documentation of a number of priority cultivars in the three countries; and (2) consultation and identification of women and men farmers and sites for in situ conservation of identified coconut diversity in three countries. The collaborative work will contribute to achieving the specific goal of CFP4 as well as the wider goals of the Treaty, in the field of coconut genetic resources conservation and use. Selected farmers will also provide sites for conserving new germplasm identified and thus be involved in conservation and possibly subsequent participatory breeding efforts.