Asparagus dauricus

The genus Asparagus is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) which aims to guarantee sustainable agriculture and food security through the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use (FAO 2009).

The People's Government of Aohan Banner (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) have developed a Proposal of Candidate System for The Global Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Programme (GIAHS). Although this programme concentrates on Foxtail and Broomcorn Millets, which are particularly adapted to dry farming lands (short growth periods and drought resistance), this regions holds a wide variety of crops and wild plants and recognises Asparagus dauricus as 'associated biodiversity' of the region (People’s Government of Aohan Banner 2012). The proposal includes a protected area system of three levels, in which the 'core zone' will aim to protect and emphasize organic agriculture, supported by a buffer zone and a radiation zone (spanning the entire Aohan Banner region). This constitutes passive conservation as the area's ecosystem is 'well-preserved' by the Aohan people and traditional farming methods have prevailed until now. However there does not seem to be any specific conservation actions planned for recognized 'associated biodiversity', including A. dauricus and other Asparagus species that reside there. This project could serve as an effective platform for enhancing public awareness and promoting species conservation (management and monitoring) for many crop wild relatives, including A. dauricus. 

This species is not found in Botanical Garden Conservation International Plant Search (BGCI 2013) or the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV Data Portal 2013). However, two accessions are held ex situ at the Northeast Regional Plant Introduction Station (Plant Genetic Resources Unit, USDA-ARS, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University), both of which are wild material originating from Mongolia (European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) 2007–2010). 

The Biological Inventories of the World's Protected Areas (Information Center for the Environment (ICE) 2013) records the species A. davuricus as being present in the Daurskiy Biosphere Reserve (Russian Federation), however it is uncertain whether this is a misspelling of A. dauricus or if this is a valid taxon name (it is present in the International Plant Names Index (IPNI 2013) but not on The Plant List (2013)). Furthermore, neither spelling occurs in the database of Russian protected areas (Petrosyan et al. 2003). Recommendations for increased ex situ conservation in gardens and parks of DPR Korea is stated in the regional red data book for the species A. davuricus (Ung-chil et al. 2005).