Abstract
Conservation and management as well research on forest genetic resources are getting more important around the world including Europe and Estonia. There are two main cornerstones by the increasing relevance: international agreements and rapidly developed methods for investigation of genetic structure and diversity by different organisms, including forest trees. In light of given background an overview about recent developments as well historical overview about movements in the past will be given in this paper. This review focuses on (i) genetical aspects by different silvicultural systems (ii) history and results of provenance trials (iii) tree breeding theory and results (iiii) in situ conservation of forest genetic resources (iiiii) development of methods for gene technology in the past and nowadays, including development of genetically modified trees (iiiiii) international processes influencing management and conservation of forest genetic resources.