Gene Conservation

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Caption: Difference in size and seed color illustrates the variability that exists within a species.

Conservation is the management of human use of genetic resources so that they may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to the present generation, while maintaining their potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations (FAO 1993¹). The objective of gene conservation is to maintain genetic diversity or variation sufficient to sustain a forest population in perpetuity (Helms 1998²).

Successful gene conservation efforts should not be directed at maintaining a forest population in a given state forever, but rather at ensuring the long-term enhancement of the genetic diversity presently available to meet future human needs. Moreover, gene conservation efforts should not concentrate only on those tree species and populations that are commonly used today, but also to those that may contain variation that will be useful in the future.

1 FAO. 1993. Conservation of genetic resources in tropical forest management—principles and concepts. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Publication #107, Rome.

2 Helms, John A. 1998. The Dictionary of Forestry. Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, MD