(free translation)

The National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) is the government agency responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity throughout the territory of Guatemala. As such, CONAP is the focal point of the Cartagena Protocol, which aims to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from the modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Guatemala, as part of the megadiverse countries and as a center of origin and diversity of cultivated plants, contains in its territory genetic richness that is important at national and global levels; therefore, their conservation and sustainable use is a priority. The Cartagena Protocol mandates the development of regulations governing the use of LMOs, and emphasizes the need to conduct environmental risk analysis based on scientific knowledge. Due to the unprecedented importance of the development of LMOs for use in agriculture, it is necessary to have a baseline for major crops native to Guatemala to support risk analysis .

The baseline must at least include information such as the presence and distribution of wild relatives, diversity of cultivated native species, biological aspects such as flowering, pollination, gene flow, hybridisation, invasive capacity, among others. There is also a need for information on the current status of development of LMOs through biotechnology and their current use in regions around Guatemala.

The professional experience of the senior author has amalgamated the existing knowledge about nine crops native to Guatemala and one of Asian origin, but with wild relatives in the country. It is hoped that this information will be valuable for regulators in the competent national authorities dealing with LMOs and to the national scientific community.