The
workshop was jointly organized by the Asia Pacific Forest
Genetic Resources Programme (APFORGEN), APAFRI, Bioversity
International and Forest Department Sri Lanka, funded
by the National Institute of Forest Science of the Republic
of Korea, and the Government of the Federal Republic of
Germany. The workshop held at the Renuka City Hotel, Colombo
was attended by 34 invited participants from 16 countries.
A
research project on APFORGIS, funded by the German Government,
is coordinated by APFORGEN from December 2017 until December
2019. The project aims to develop dynamic distribution
maps for at least 50 Asian tree species, based on available
information from governments and research institutions,
to enable spatially defining conservation priorities.
APFORGIS will also develop decision support tools for
the establishment of Gene Conservation Units (GCU) for
different species; and develop a Road Map for establishing
an Asian network of GCUs for ecologically and economically
important tree species. The project was introduced by
Dr. Riina Jalonen during the APFORGEN Workshop in Kunming,
China in March 2018, which was also co-organized by APAFRI.
Soon after that, APFORGEN had organized the Inception
Workshop on APFORGIS in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in April
2018.
This workshop reported the progress of the APFORGIS project.
The up-to-date maps on the modelled distributions of over
50 native Asian tree species had been produced based on
the information supplied by more than 40 organizations
and individuals from 12 Asian countries. During this workshop,
all participating experts were required to:
•
Review and validate the distribution and threat maps for
the species
• Identify regional priorities for conserving the species
and their genetic diversity
• Agree on a shared definition for genetic conservation
units, building on existing approaches in Asian countries
• Identify main capacity needs for establishing a regional
network of conservation units to protect the species’
genetic diversity for restoration and sustainable use
across their ranges
Forest
Department Sri Lanka had arranged a one-day-trip for all
participants to explore the wonderful ecosystem diversity
of Sri Lanka. Participants experienced a nice boat trip
around the Maduganga sanctuary and mangrove islets which
harboured a total of 303 species of plants. Based on the
extent of occurrence, mangroves and mixed swamps are the
dominant wetland vegetation types in Maduganga. The next
visit was to the Dombagaskanda Forest Reserve, a low land
rain forest, located at the wet zone of Sri Lanka. The
forest, declared as a Reserved Forest in 2014, covering
a small mountain range with four main peaks. This was
followed by a short visit to the Labugama Kalatuwawa Forest
Reserve which protects two reservoirs that are the source
of water supply to the capital Colombo. The forest type
is classified as tropical rain forest and the floristic
composition is quite similar to the Dombagaskanda forest.
