ࡱ> ?A>q` R!bjbjqPqP04::  $ 8 44 $7T L \ 0$hQF F F  4F   F  H %/Uh 07^F F F F F F 7F F F F $$$ $$$ $$$ The Global Plant Council Forges Ahead On June 28 29 this year, the Global Plant Council (GPC) met in the beautiful city of Qingdao on the coast of eastern  HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandong" \o "Shandong" Shandong  HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_China" \o "Province of China" province in HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_China" \o "East China"China -- home to the famous Tsingtao brewery. The GPC meeting was generously hosted by the Chinese Society of Plant Biology (CSPB) and expertly and smoothly organized by Professor Zuhua He, the Secretary General of CSPB, and his team of capable assistants. Fourteen of the 20 GPC member societies were represented at the meeting, either by serving presidents or by the societys chosen representative. The main focus of the meeting was to develop focused topic areas and a deployment strategy that would allow GPC to move forward into active participation in the global debates that can be informed and impacted by the work and talents of the plant science community: world hunger, human health and well-being, climate change, energy and biomaterials, and sustainability and environmental protection. During the meeting, we decided that the best way forward was to generate two-page proposals to hold workshops on our chosen focus topics and to seek funding for them. These workshops would bring together plant scientists and others from all over the globe with the necessary expertise to generate a road map as to how plant science can address, mitigate, or offer solutions for the issues that GPC plans to address. The Council chose nine topics areas to explore in greater depths. These nine topics, in order of perceived priority for GPC action, are: 1. Digital Seed Bank to provide a stable perpetuation of plant genetic diversity, in particular those species that are or have been cultivated as food crops, by creating a digital database of genome sequences, phenotypic information, expression data, proteome and metabolome assessments etc., that would be open to all and would supplement physical seed storage. 2. Local-level Diversity and Yield Stability to provide a means by which breeding efforts targeted to specific environmental conditions, utilizing local germplasm that is being characterized around the world, can be facilitated and enhanced in the public sector. 3. Increasing/Enriching Agricultural Diversity - to promote the deployment of underutilized seed and root crops and cropping systems that might have nutritional and environmental benefits, as well as a return to the farmers that are growing them. 4. Biofortification - to advocate for development new crops that are more nutritious so that people receive the nutrients directly from unprocessed foods. Articulate what can be accomplished by conventional breeding and what might require alternative approaches and advocate for open sharing of data and information regarding biofortification efforts. 5. The Plant Environment Metagenome to advocate the exploration of the whole plant with a view toward crop improvement and sustainability. The whole plant includes not only the plant itself, but the entire microecology of interacting microorganisms within and upon its surfaces, both within an agricultural cropping system and in a natural environment. 6. Development of medicinal plant-based products to advocate for ethnobotanical research and for natural product research and development, as well as to establish the means by which products can be efficiently tested and brought to market. 7. Species information for sustainable adaptation capability to climate change - to explore/develop an approach toward facilitating ecosystem adaptation to changes that are already taking place and to integrate existing plant interaction information into an ecosystem perspective. 8. Developing Perennial Rice/Wheat/Maize - to encourage a vision for the conversion of current dominant crops to perennial forms to stabilize land use and inputs and to promote sustainability along with yield maintenance. 9. Sharing Information and Resources to develop a position statement regarding the global free exchange of information, phenotype and genotype data, and resources (including germplasm) that are in the public domain for approval of the membership. As you can imagine, each one of these topics generated much spirited discussion within the group present at the meeting. But it is the intent of GPC to solicit input from plant scientists among all of the represented societies both during the development of the proposals and also as participants in the workshops once they are funded. Each member society will be asked to provide suggestions as to whom amongst their membership can provide expert and relevant input to these activities. In addition to the development of these focused issue statements and action items, each member society reported on their own activities within the purview of the GPC mission. The list of activities is substantial, and the exchange opened up areas in which societies may chose to collaborate and maximise the impact of their individual programs. This is something that GPC will continue to promote and facilitate as a distinct value to our member societies. GPC is well along in the process of registering as a not-for-profit organization, with our registration being implemented in Switzerland as a neutral base of operation. Our website,  HYPERLINK "http://www.globalplantcouncil.org" www.globalplantcouncil.org, is up and running and we will continue to improve on its content and its utility. Suggestions are always welcome and should be directed to the Executive Director. We will also continue to offer membership to plant science societies around the world who have not yet signed up with GPC, and an active recruitment effort is underway. GPC member the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) has kindly volunteered to host the next Annual Meeting of the Global Plant Council in Freiburg, Germany either before or after the joint EPSO/FESPB meeting that runs from July 29th to August 4th, 2012 I hope that this report on our activities will offer some insight into what the GPC is about, but should you require any further information please visit our website or feel free to contact me. Mel Oliver Executive Director Global Plant Council olivermj@missouri.edu     %&BDY_> ? G H L M m n # $  ǿǿ錈ڄ|鄀h?hh_h\jh\U'jh%0J>*B*UmH phsH $hI!hI!0J>*B*mH phsH h%jh%UhI!hI!mH sH hFmH sH hFhI! hI!hI!h hG5 h5hI!hI!50&$ SISK ! ! !gd@ RgdD3gdwgdI} RgdCB !! < ),-8GRS%.GHILuRSVľľӾӲhOZhCB\^J hI}\^J h@^JhOZhI}^J hI}^J h:B^J hj7^J hCB^JhOZhCB^JhOZhCB5\^JhCB5\^Jh@h?hCBhGhh9HJKLN^_aeh ,PQV+MǾ復܂{t{mttf_ h@\^J hjX\^J hw\^J h\^J hI}\^JhI}hI}\^J hCB^Jh hhCB5^J hI}5^J h^J hK#u^JhI}hI}^J hI}^JhOZhCB^JhOZhCB5\^JhCB5\^JhI}5\^JhI}hCB^J hCB\^JhOZhCB\^J!CDQRV`dmqrvSV"GJLMN_ɿɿɸɸ㸿ɿ㗎vp hD3^JhOZhCB^J hw^JhwhCB^Jhwhw^J hw5^J hCB\^JhCB5\^JhRAhCB\^J hw\^JhOZhCB\^J h\^JhK#uhw\^Jhw5\^JhOZhCB5\^J hCB^JhdhCB5^J(!$w  nopqu c12FQ_`Ͼh%jh%U h@^J h^J hCB^J hD3^J hw^J hjX^JhOZhD3\^J hD3\^JhD3hD3\^JhD35\^JhOZhCB5\^JhCB5\^Jh hhCB^J8.23 Y ^ ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!ƾƾƺʺʺʺƺhjhU hI!hjX h@^Jh@h h@H*h@hw h^J hw^J h@^Jjh%0JU^JhWh@0J^Jjh%U* ! ! !!!!!!!!!gdUY .:p@/ =!"#$% 666666666vvvvvvvvv666666>6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666hH666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666H@H ]acke$CJOJQJ_HaJmH nHsH tH$A$ ؞k=W[SOBiB 0nfh*B*ph('( 0ybl_(uCJaJ0"0 0ybleW[ CJaJtH>1> 0 Char Char3OJQJmH sH .j!". 0ybl;N 5\tHDQD 0 Char Char25OJQJ\mH sH NbN UY0u w'$ 9r &dG$Pa$CJaJNqN UY0 Char Char1 CJOJQJaJmH nHsH tH6 6 UY0u 9r G$CJaJLL UY0 Char Char CJOJQJaJmH nHsH tH4&$SIS K     I08I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0I0   ! !!!>GL_XXXX@  @ 0( 000000000) B S  ?H0(   OLE_LINK1 OLE_LINK2 OLE_LINK3 OLE_LINK4 OLE_LINK5 OLE_LINK6 OLE_LINK9 OLE_LINK10 OLE_LINK11 OLE_LINK7 OLE_LINK8-- ;;44FKN ^ V d        LTU ]       3333        $ @(QI}W@BI!r<-q~6j7CB:BjXUY`]aweK#u%bwG?V]F_GD3\LQw% @@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial7&{ @CalibriG5  hMS MinchoOO g,c7K@CambriaC  PLucida Grande 1'h N -N -!4J#H$P'I!2%The Global Plant Council Forges Ahead Mel OliverxieOh+'0|  8 D P\dlt(The Global Plant Council Forges Ahead Mel Oliver Normal.dotxie2Microsoft Office Word@@ Uh@ UhN՜.+,D՜.+, X`t|  USDA-ARS-  ` 8@ _PID_HLINKSA!< #http://www.globalplantcouncil.org/~*P(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_China~ X/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_China~\&http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandong~  !"$%&'()*+,-/012345789:;<=@Root Entry F./UhBData 1Table#WordDocument04SummaryInformation(.DocumentSummaryInformation86CompObjm  FMicrosoft Office Word ĵ MSWordDocWord.Document.89q