lighted in their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans and National Reports prepared under the terms of Article 6 of the CBD (www.biodiv.org/reports). Almost all countries prepared reports for the preparation of the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 1996a) as an element of FAO. Turkey, as a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has activity reports for both animal and plant diversity indicators, which are policy biodiversity indicators for measuring the performance of national policies and helping monitor progress in fulfilling international obligations (Tan, 2001).

Agricultural research and development institutions of the Arab League-ACSAD (Arab Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Lands and Arid Zones) and AOAD (Arab Organization for Agricultural Development), COMSTECH- OIC (Scientific and Technical Committee of the Organization of Islamic Conference), the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States among Central Asia and Caucasus countries) and the AU (African Union) are the principal intergovernmental bodies for international and regional collaboration in the region.

However, the way these conservation efforts are organized varies across countries, ranging from involvement of governmental and nongovernmental organizations to amateur collections and commercial companies. Some countries have national gene banks, others have several specialized agricultural research institutes responsible for maintaining agricultural genetic resources, while some countries work together in regional gene bank networks. The crop and regional networks are also related to agrobiodiversity protection. The Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus Network on Plant Genetic Resources (CA-TCN/PGR), established in 1996), The West Asia and North Africa Network on Plant Genetic Resources (WANANET, established in 1992-1998) have been active for the collection, conservation and sustainable use of the unique agrobiodiversity of the region. The other regional network, for rangeland seed information, was established with two subregion nodes: the Mashreq countries (Iraq, Jordan and Syria) and the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia). Turkey is also a member of the European Cooperative Program for Plant Genetic Resources (EC/PGR).

The International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources placed emphasis on the need for coordination between local and distant approaches. The Global Plan of Action agreed upon by 150 governments at the technical conference identifies the promotion of in situ conservation of wild crop relatives and wild plants for food production as one of its 20 priority areas (FAO, 1996b). Those activities are an excellent guide to the national programs of the region.

International agreements and conventions are also important in agriculture and biodiversity. Most notable was the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which was agreed upon at the UN Conference on Environment and Development at Rio in 1992. The CBD recognized the significance of biodiversity for agriculture. This has led the FAO to request member countries to negotiate, through the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the revision of the international undertaking on plant genetic resources in agriculture. The International

Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture came into force on 29 June 2004; a few countries of the region participated, in harmony with the CBD. In addition, within the overall context of the CBD, the Biosafety Protocol was agreed upon in over 130 countries. This was the first major international agreement to control trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), covering food, animal feed and seeds. Other related international conventions include, for example, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, 1973, www.cites.org), the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention, 1971, www.ramsar.org). Some countries of the region are signatory to those of the agreements and completed the ratification. The awareness of the countries of the region to the participation of those agreements is not enough. The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention, 1971, www.coe .int/T/E//Cultural_Co-operation/Environment) is signed only by Turkey and enforced with various projects. Additionally, some countries are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO, www.wto.org) and bound to its rules, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, www.wipo.int) and the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The Uruguay Round Agreement of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, www.wto.org) produced the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which commits all members of the WTO to adopt and enforce minimum protection for intellectual property rights (IPR). Article 27.3(b) of the agreement on TRIPS calls for members to develop plant variety protection legislation (www.wto.org).

Bioversity International's (former IPGRI) work in CWANA started as early as 1977 with an FAO project jointly conducted with the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) in Izmir, Turkey. The Bioversity International regional office for the WANA region was located in Aleppo, Syria, in 1993, at the International Center for Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). In 1997, the office broadened its mandate to include Central Asia and changed its name accordingly into CWANA. A subregional office was opened in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1998 at the ICARDA Facilitation Unit for Central Asia. The ultimate goal of IPGRI CWANA is to strengthen the national and regional capacities to achieve the effective conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. Five other centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICRISAT and IRRI) have subregional offices and carry out activities on plant genetic resources on mandated crops and agrobiodiversity conservation.

Ex situ conservation has been predominant for conserving plant genetics for food and agriculture in the region. In recent years, the need for integrated conservation strategies for conserving plant genetics coordinating in situ and ex situ approaches has become clear. The first attempt at local conservation was the project implemented by Turkey in a multiple site and multispecies approach. Now there are various projects in the region for both in situ conservation of wild relatives of crops and farm conservation of the traditional crops in agrobiodiversity and some in ecosystems. The documentation of biodiversity has become important. National programs and formal and informal institutions of