The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

1
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture

• Jan Engels and Lorenzo Maggioni
• IPGRI, Rome

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International Treaty (IT)

• Outline
• Background
• Rationale
• Status
• Objectives
• Main achievements
• Access
• Benefit sharing
• sMTA
• Other key provisions

3
Background to the Treaty

• International Undertaking on PGR (established
  in1983) predecessor of IT
• Legally non-binding agreement
• Based on the principle that PGR is a heritage of
  mankind and consequently should be available
  without restriction
• Addressed both, PBRs and Farmers Rights

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Background to the Treaty

• CBD entered into force in December 1993
• Sovereign rights of States over their
  biodiversity is recognized
• Contracting Parties are bound to create
  conditions to facilitate access to genetic
  resources (GR)
• Access is on mutually agreed terms and subject to
  Prior Informed Consent (??bilateral agreements)

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Rationale for the Treaty

• Outstanding issues on PGRFA in CBD assigned to
  FAO (Resolution 3 of Nairobi Final Act)
• CBD covers only genetic resources provided by
  Contracting Parties that are countries of origin
  of such resources or that acquired such resources
  in accordance with the Convention
• CBD did not address the legal status of ex situ
  material collected before entrance into force of
  CBD, including CGIAR collections
• Farmers rights

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Rationale for special treatment of PGRFA

• Special nature of PGRFA and the improvement/
  breeding process
• man-made diversity ?? strong dependency on human
  management
• importance of intra-specific diversity for
  improvement/evolution
• product of improvement work over many generations
  
• hard to define origin of products and of their
  several distinctive properties
• Interdependency of countries on PGRFA
• No country is (entirely) self-sufficient in terms
  of PGRFA
• Importance of PGRFA for food security
• Important to ensure that crops continue to be
  able to feed the world (incl. health and
  nutrition)
• Access to a wide range of PGRFA and related
  information is essential
• As an immediate resource
• Insurance against unknown future needs

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Rationale for special treatment of PGRFA

• Special access needs to PGRFA
• If only through bilateral agreements (example of
  rice at IRRI 85 000 accessions from 111
  countries)
• A country would have to negotiate a minimum of
  110 contractual agreements to get access to
  total diversity.
• For all countries to get access to all the
  material would require a minimum of 12 210
  agreements!
• ??High transaction costs
• ??Difficult negotiating power for developing
  countries that are poor in genetic resources

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The status of the Treaty

• Negotiated by 164 member FAO Commission on
  Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
• Adopted by the FAO Conference by consensus in
  November 2001
• Entered into force on 29 June 2004 90 days after
  ratification by 40 states
• At present, 95 States and EC are Parties

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Objectives of the Treaty

• The conservation and sustainable use of plant
  genetic resources for food and agriculture
• The fair and equitable sharing of benefits
  arising from their use, in harmony with CBD
• Contribute to sustainable agriculture and food
  security
• Treaty is closely linked to FAO and CBD in
  attaining its objectives

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Major component of Treaty MLS

• Principles of Multilateral System of Access and
  Benefit-sharing (MLS)
• Recognition of sovereign rights of states over
  their own PGRFA
• Authority to determine access rests with
  governments and is subject to national
  legislation
• In exercising this sovereign right CP agree to
  establish MLS
• Coverage of MLS
• List of 35 crops/genepools and forages - Annex I

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Major component of Treaty MLS

• Coverage of MLS (cont.)
• Annex I species selected on basis of importance
  for food security and interdependency
• Only PGRFA under the management and control of
  the Contracting Parties and in the public domain
• Contracting Parties to invite other holders of
  Annex I PGRFA (e.g. private sector) to include
  these in MLS
• Multilateral agreement on rules regarding
  facilitated access and benefit-sharing
• MLS includes also Annex I genetic resources held
  by CGIAR and other international institutions

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Facilitated Access to PGRFA within MLS

• Solely for purpose of utilisation and
  conservation for research, breeding and training
  for food and agriculture
• Access shall be expeditiously, without need for
  tracking and free of charge
• Access includes all available passport data and
  other associated non-confidential information
• Recipients shall not claim any Intellectual
  property or other rights that limit facilitated
  access to the plant genetic resources for food
  and agriculture, or their genetic parts and
  components, in the form received from the MLS

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Facilitated Access to PGRFA within MLS

• Access to PGRFA under development (incl. by
  farmers) is at discretion of developer during
  period of its development
• Access to material with IP protection shall be
  consistent with relevant international agreements
  and with relevant national legislation
• Recipients must continue to make materials
  accessed under MLS and conserved available under
  agreed terms
• Access to in situ material according to national
  legislation
• Facilitated access to PGRFA pursuant to a
  standard Material Transfer Agreement

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Benefit-sharing in MLS

• As genetic resources are pooled ?? no need to
  negotiate ABS contracts with individual owners
• ?? very low transaction costs, to the benefit of
  farmers, plant breeders and researchers, and
  ultimately of consumers
• ?? benefits must be shared in a pooled,
  multilateral way
• Facilitated access to GR and information is
  itself a major benefit

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Benefit-sharing in MLS

• Benefits arising from the use, incl. commercial,
  shall be shared fairly and equitably through
  following mechanisms
• Exchange of information (on material, from
  research and utilization, on technologies)
• Access to and transfer of technology, improved
  varieties and genetic material assistance in
  using technologies favorable access conditions
  on IP protected technologies
• Capacity-building, incl. education, facilities
  and research

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Benefit-sharing in MLS

• Sharing of monetary and other benefits of
  commercialization
• Involvement of public and private sector in
  collaborative research and technology development
  activities
• If a product that incorporates material from MLS
  is commercialized and its availability is
  restricted to others for further research and
  breeding payment of an equitable share of the
  benefits id due to a financial mechanism
• If product is available without restriction to
  others, payment is voluntary
• Benefits should flow primarily to farmers in all
  countries

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The standard Material Transfer Agreement

• sMTA is at the heart of the MLS
• sMTA will operationalize the conditions of the
  MLS
• sMTA will operate at the level of private
  commercial law
• An update on the sMTA negotiation process will be
  given by Frank Begemann right after this
  presentation!

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Other Key Provisions of Treaty Farmers Rights

• Recognition of contributions that farmers and
  their communities have made and continue to make
  to the conservation and development of plant
  genetic resources.
• Farmers Rights include
• protection of traditional knowledge
• the right to participate equitably in
  benefit-sharing, and
• participation in national decision-making about
  plant genetic resources
• Realization of Farmers Rights rests with
  national governments

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Other Key Provisions of Treaty Supporting
Components

• The Global Plan of Action for the Conservation
  and Sustainable Use of PGRFA
• Agreements with IARCs regarding ex situ
  collections (about 600 000 accessions)
• International Plant Genetic Resources Networks
• The Global Information System

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Financial and Institutional provisions

• Treaty will adopt a Funding Strategy, to enhance
  the availability, transparency, efficiency and
  effectiveness of the provision of financial
  resources to implement activities under this
  Treaty
• One element Global Crop Diversity Trust

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Schedule of forthcoming meetings

• First Meeting of the Governing Body of the Treaty
  will take place in Spain (12-16 June 2006)
• Only those States that are Contracting Parties at
  the time of the Meeting will be allowed to
  participate fully in the Meeting as members of
  the Governing Body. Ratification or accession
  required by early March 2006

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Schedule of meetings

• Interim Committee held two meetings and set up
  Contact Group on sMTA and Open-ended Working
  Group
• First meeting on sMTA held in July 2005 (Tunisia)
• 2nd meeting of Group in April 2006 (Sweden)
• Working Group on Rules of Procedure, Financial
  Rules and Funding Strategy in December 2005
• Swiss meeting of experts held in February 2006

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• Thank you for your attention!