2.1. DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF SEED
2.2. IN SITU CONSERVATION
2.3. EX SITU CONSERVATION
2.4. TREE IMPROVEMENT
The institutional framework for supply of seed exists. The National Tree Seed Centre (NTSC) was established in 1995 and is fully operational. It supplies seeds of mostly indigenous species and is part of a regional network, and thus, has access to other markets. The main customers for the seed centre are afforestation and reforestation projects of NGOs as well as district forestry offices.
There has been little effort to ensure in situ conservation of forest genetic resources in the past. In the forestry sector, in situ conservation is addressed by the existence of one state forest reserve. However, this forest reserve lacks management guidelines. Protection of forest genetic resources is also partially addressed by the Protected Area Network (PAN), consisting of 21 game parks (Barnard, 1998). As management guidelines of game parks only address management of wildlife resources and do not address forest resources, this limits conservation of forest plant species. However, there are extensive woodlands and most vegetations are represented in national parks such as Etosha and others in the North-East.
In situ conservation is also currently being addressed by the establishment of community conservancies within various communities in the country. The practice will involve management of resources within the conservancies by the communities involved and the benefits generated will be chiefly for such communities.
The NPGRC and the NTSC are concerned with the preservation of germplasm. Both centres do short-term storage of germplasm, while long-term duplicate collections are stored at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Plant Genetic Resource Centre (SPGRC) in Lusaka Zambia.
The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), hosts the National Gene Bank, which performs both long and short-term storage of germplasm to ensure ex situ conservation, as well as the National Botanic Garden despite its early stage of development.
Forest research in Namibia is still in its infant stage, however plans for improving some important indigenous species are already underway. There is an existing Colophospermum mopane (mopane) management and rehabilitation trial (see appendix 3). The aim is to assess the growth of natural mopane stands when they are managed and protected.
Sclerocarya birrea is one of the socio-economically important species in Namibia. A provenance and progeny trial of the species is planned and will be implemented before the end of the financial year (1999-2000). Improvement and promotion of selected indigenous fruit tree species is one aspect of the planned research, which will also be implemented within this financial year.
