Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

Background

Systematic germplasm collection operations have been undertaken in all administrative regions of the country, covering a wide range of agro-ecological conditions by setting priorities based on the economic importance, degree of genetic erosion, degree of genetic diversity, etc of species. Two strategies of conservation, ex-situ and in-situ are followed in genetic resource conservation in the country, where ex-situ is the long term storage of the accessions in the genebank and in-situ is a community-based land race conservation in different agro-ecological regions.
Responsibilities

The Service is responsible for the registering, compiling, analysis and dissemination of biodiversity information. It has four units; namely: Documentation Unit, BioGIS Unit, Library Unit, and audiovisual and Photocopy Unit.

Objectives

The objectives of Information and Documentation Service are to register, compile, systematize, maintain and disseminate information related to germplasm collection, storage, characterization and evaluation.These include collecting mission, seed processing and storage, germplasm characterization and evaluation as well as regeneration and information from some research activities. It also records and produces pertinent information using motion pictures (documentary films), slide films and photographs.

Databases

Currently the Institute holds about 67,043 accessions belonging to 408 plant species obtained through mainly collection, as well as repatriation and donation. A great portion of the material has been evaluated for various characteristics at appropriate agro-ecological sites. The material collected over the years is being conserved using appropriate conservation practices depending on the storage behavior, type and nature of the species.

More about our database

IBC Local Intranet

We have established Local intranet in our institute since November 2006. The intanet mainly consists of information on our Main database, Library collections, Photo and Video Collections, Legal documents related to the Institute’s mandates and duties, Softwares (freely avialable on the net), News, etc.

It is of paramount importance to our Staff as well as guests who intend to know More about our institute besides our official website.

Staff

Mr. Abiyot Berhanu (Head)
Mrs. Mesaywork Atalel (Documentalist)
Mrs. Etalmahu Befekadu (Documentalist)
Mrs. Yeshihareg Tamirat (Documentalist)
Mrs. Alemnesh Molla (Documentalist)
Mr. Dereje Demissie (Cameraman)
Mr. Kifle Adafre (Cameraman)
Mr. Milkias Berhanu (Librarian)