Opening of the 2nd Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The 2nd Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) opened on October 29, 2007, Monday, at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization office in Rome, Italy. The start of the 2nd Session officially opened negotiations and discussions among the Contracting Parties of the International Treaty on multifarious issues and concerns surrounding the proper implementation of the ITPGRFA, an international treaty which focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, farmers' rights, and the multilateral system on facilitated access and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, particularly on crops listed in Annex I of the International Treaty.


Highlighted in the opening program of the Governing Body's 2nd Session by speakers from various fields relevant to the International Treaty are expectations on public and private sector collaborations to meet the need of farmers and increasing the number of crops, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and its support on conservation of ex-situ collections. challenges to be faced in achieving global food security, promotion of grassroots conservation, sustainable farming and innovations, and the role of the Treaty in supporting farmers' rights.


Received with welcomed attention during the opening program were the presentations of Professor Anil K. Gupta with an Indian farmer-innovator, and Guy Kastler from Via Campesina. Professor Gupta emphasized the remarkable role of farmers through their local knowledge systems in the International Treaty's work on conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, as substantiated with the Indian farmers' sharing of his developed varieties of various crops which he makes freely available to other farmers. Professor Gupta also proposed the following in order to support the work of farmers and further recognize their rights to seeds: a grassroots informations system to inform and empower farmers as concerns their resources, an international fund to support farmers' work, material and non-material incentives to target individual farmers and farmer communities, a global recognition of farmers as breeders and innovators, a funding mechanism for farmers' conservation work, and the need to bridge formal and informal systems as a means to support the overall objectives of the Treaty among others. Guy Kastler, on the other hand, emphasized the immediate need to support and implement farmers' rights, and, in particular, on farmers' right to sell seeds and actual participation through worldwide farmers' consultations.


During the plenary, representatives from the various regional groupings welcomed the opening and developments in the implementation of the International Treaty. In addition, they stressed the need to address during the present session concerns on the development of an effective funding strategy for the implementation of the Multilateral System and implementation of the Treaty's article on Farmers' Rights with support on those who conserve and maintain plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.


Note: Photos from IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin