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Abstract
The last decade has seen the emergence of a number of innovative community level initiatives in
Asia, Africa and Latin America for agrobiodiversity development and conservation.
Traditional knowledge systems form and integral part of many of these programs.
However, there is still a considerable lack of awareness of the importance of traditional
agrobiodiversity knowledge systems and of the successes of these new initiatives within formal
science institutions. This paper will address a few issues that will need special attention if the
successes of the new programs are to be consolidated and their developments shared in a broader
perspective. The paper argues that further research is needed inter alia on: (a) approaches to
encourage enable inter-cultural recognition and acceptance; (b) specific adjustments needed of
national agricultural policy and national agricultural research systems to become supportive of
local plant genetic resource management, and (c) different options for protection of traditional
knowledge and of collective systems for conservation and development of biodiversity in a
wider, non-IPR sense.