Three national trainings on in situ and ex situ conservation strategies were organised in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam in March 2020, as part of the regional project Conserving Rosewood genetic diversity for resilient livelihoods in the Mekong, funded by the UK Darwin Initiative. The trainings covered the following topics:
- basic population genetic principles in terms of how they influence conservation decisions
- options and limitations of different strategies for tree conservation (in situ, ex situ, circa situm)
- conservation of tree genetic resources through tree improvement
- case study group work on conservation of an endangered species
- review of the status of Dalbergia spp in SE Asia
- application of course learning to derive options for Dalbergia spp
The trainings were led by Dr David Boshier (University of Oxford), with contributions from project country partners and Ms Tania Kanchanarak (Bioversity International) to the training in Lao PDR. The trainings were hosted by: The National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), Vientiane, Lao PDR (20 participants) Institute of Forest & Wildlife Research & Development, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (24 participants) Center for Biodiversity & Biosafety, Institute of Agricultural Genetics, Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam (8 participants)
