International Treaty on

Plant Genetic

Resources for Food and Agriculture

International Treaty on

Plant Genetic

Resources for Food and Agriculture

Membership

25

69

37 Members of UPOV onlyMembers of

both the Treaty and UPOV

Members of the Treaty Only

Commission on Genetic Resources

1983 International Undertaking

1989-91 Agreed interpretations

Farmers’ Rights

UPOV

1994 Legal framework for CG collections

1996 State of the World’s PGRFA

1996 Global Plan of Action

1992: CBD

Reaffirms national sovereignty over GR

Access through

Prior informed consent

On mutually agreed terms

Need to revise the Undertaking

Negotiations begin in 1994

Special nature of PGRFAPharmaceutical ‘bioprospecting’ is not like plant breeding:

It works with chemicals, not genes

The product is synthesized and patented

Plant breeding

combines and recombines genomes

uses materials from the whole world

The PGRFA portfolio

Results from 10,000 years of exchange

Is crucial for food security

Exchange is the basis of the Breeder’s exemption

Countries average 70% interdependence

Under the CBD

Sovereignty, not ‘heritage of mankind’

Aims at an incentive for conservation

Onus on governments create systems where market forces create reinvestment

Has almost universally been implemented through private ‘assess and use’ contracts

But are such contracts a good model for agriculture?

They imply trade secrecy

Raw materials not available to others

Research results are kept secret

Grave implications for public research

This pushes innovation towards patents

They skew the research agenda

They result in high transaction costs

This result in a market failure

Collection and exchange has declined

Challenge for the TreatyHow to construct an internationally agreed framework for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits, within this increasing privatization, and in the context of a continuing loss of biological diversity

The Treaty is more than just access and benefit-sharing

Objectives: conservation and sustainable use, fair and equitable benefit-sharing, for sustainable agriculture and food security

Scope: all PGRFA

Recognises farmers’ rights

Funding Strategy for developing countries

The Multilateral System64 crops, chosen for food security and interdependence

They provide 80% of our plant food

Material brought in by:

Governments

Private institutions and companies

The CGIAR and other international institutions

Benefit-sharing a contractual obligation

Only at end of development cycle, when a product (seed) is commercialised, that incorporates material from the Multilateral system

Benefits return to the Multilateral System, not a provider

No other proprietary rights

The Multilateral System

Neutral as to intellectual property rights

Mandatory payment of 1.1% of sales (-30%), when product is not freely available for research and breeding

Voluntary payment when it is

All non-confidential research information shall be made available

Alternative payment: access to a whole crop for 0.5% of all sales of that crop

The Multilateral System

Administering a public good under private contract?

Two challenges and innovative solutions:

How to ensure uniformity across jurisdictions

Binding international arbitration

How to vindicate the Treaty’s rights

Contractual recognition of a ‘third party beneficial interest’ and appointment of the ‘third party beneficiary’

BenefitsAccess itself

Low transaction costs

Overcomes market failure

Provides public and private breeders with a wide range of resources

Contributes to food security

provides the industry with a clear framework in which to plan investment

To make the system workGovernments must ensure the SMTA works, across legal systems

The seed industry, and UPOV, needs to support it. No alternative can be as favourable

The Funding Strategy must mobilise benefits for developing countries

Part of the Treaty’s Funding Strategy

An endowment of $260 million the long-term conservation of key ex situ collections

A public-private partnership

An investment in humanity’s future

Thank you