32 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM W e repeat it so often it begins to sound almost trite: the diversity of crops is vital for our future. The human popu- lation is growing, the land available for food pro- duction is decreasing, climate change imposes greater stresses on food production, non-renewable resources are becoming scarcer, and malnutrition remains a huge problem. How do we address the massive challenge? The answer lies in plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) con- served in situ and ex situ, which contain the build- ing blocks that we can use to develop crops that are more nutritious, more productive, more tolerant of biotic and abiotic stresses, and less dependent on pesticides and fertilizers. But identifying, finding and sustainably using these building blocks is almost unbelievably compli- cated. Each crop species has around 30,000 genes, producing thousands of biochemical compounds. We have still only touched the surface of under- standing how they interact with each other over time to control the growth of the plant, how they contribute to a healthy diet, how they determine the response of the plant to pests, diseases, weeds, plant nutrients, extremes of temperature and mois- ture, soil microbes, soil structure and toxic com- pounds in the soil. Addressing each one of these issues is itself hugely complex. The objective is not to seek a single ideal type of crop plant: variation in crops in time and space is an essential part of the sustainable solution, matching the diversity and changeability of communities and environments. Scientists typically try to break down these big problems into smaller, scientifically tractable pieces, and may labour for decades to make pro- gress. Knowledge about the potential value of a particular variety of one crop emanates from the studies of hundreds of farmers and consumers, using scientific or other approaches to knowledge generation. And this adds a new dimension to the grand challenge – how do we bring together all the diverse sources of knowledge about each variety? Enter: the Global Information System (GLIS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. For the first time, the GLIS seeks to bring together information on PGRFA – where and how they are maintained, what their characteristics are, and how they could be sustainably used – from a wide range of different sources. Rather than seeking to compile all relevant information in one place, the GLIS will build on existing information systems, helping them become inter-operable and, thus, more accessible. The big challenge of bringing together infor- mation from different sources is that the infor- mation is gathered in different ways and stored in different ways in different data management systems. Fortunately, databases can now be made to talk to each other, even if they are designed in different ways as long as they have a common “language” for communicating with each other. The GLIS will make this interoperability among databases possible by providing a common agreed syntax to transmit and receive information. For this to work, there are some basic require- ments, an underlying framework on which all other functionality depends: •  Each sample of PGRFA in the GLIS must be uniquely, globally and permanently identified, using an appropriate, agreed form of identifier; •  Users of the GLIS must be able to trace the physical material of the PGRFA from core metadata associated with its identifier; •  Users must be able to find data, information and knowledge associated with the PGRFA; and •  Users must be able to find related PGRFA material (derivatives, ancestors, siblings). Perhaps surprisingly, until GLIS discussions started, there wasn’t even an agreed system to iden- tify PGRFA and the relationships between PGRFA globally. This has been a major barrier to collabo- ration; partners in a network, working on related PGRFA must be able to unambiguously identify related samples held by other partners in the net- work. Given this fundamental need, GLIS has prior- itised the streamlined exchange of PGRFA between partners, so that each recipient of PGRFA can easily and accurately identify, in the recipient’s own data- base, the precise material received from the provider. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs, which are Digital Identifiers of Objects, not Identifiers of Digital Objects), have now been selected as the permanent unique identifier of choice. The Secretariat of the International Treaty has set up a mechanism to allow anyone to acquire DOIs to identify the PGRFA that they manage. A small step forward, but a vital one, one that has never been undertaken before. With this vital step, the GLIS opens up a whole new world of new opportunities to collaborate in building up knowledge of PGRFA through connecting databases developed by diverse stakeholder groups. Dr Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton is currently Head of Genetic Resources Center, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, a position he has held since 2002. WHY IT MATTERS Knowledge about the potential value of a particular variety of one crop emanates from the studies of hundreds of farmers and consumers, using scientific or other approaches to knowledge generation. Until now, this knowledge from all the diverse sources had not been brought together. The Global Information System (GLIS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture seeks to bring together information on PGRFA – where and how they are maintained, what their characteristics are, and how they could be sustainably used – from a wide range of different sources. UNLOCKING THE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE POTENTIAL VALUE OF A VARIETY THE GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEM BRINGS TOGETHER INFORMATION ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES BY: RUARAIDH SACKVILLE HAMILTON