Germany has entered into the international commitment which are based on the agreements to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Nagoya Protocol and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), to

• maintain biodiversity and agro-biodiversity in the long-term,
• promote sustainable use and
• facilitate a global agreement on the management of the Earth’s resources.

The national implementation of the CBD with the relevant framework conditions and tasks is conducted by the National Strategy on Biological Diversity 2030. This is supplemented and substantiated by means of the National Programme for Plant Genetic Resources and the National Strategy on Genetic Resources for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Measures that must be taken in order to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources include the creation and development of suitable:

• organisational structures (centrally organised or decentralised, e.g. as a network)
• infrastructures (e.g. in the form of conservation and assessment facilities),
• information structures (incl. documentation, evaluation and information systems).

The German Gene Bank for Ornamentals was founded in 2009 to realise these measures.