Newsletter Special Edition August 2003

During the GFAR conference three parallel side events took place at the lunch breaks, and provided an opportunity for stakeholders to share information, knowledge and experiences in ARD.

This side event was promoted by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in collaboration with the Global Conservation Trust of IPGRI. The first GFAR Conference adopted the Dresden Declaration on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which urged governments to complete the revision of the International Undertaking in Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The declaration allows for the effective implementation of a multilateral system for facilitating access and benefit-sharing for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, recognizing farmers' rights in plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and promoting implementation of the Leipzig Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Session Highlights

The negotiations for the revision of the International Undertaking were successful. On 3 November 2001, the Thirty-first Session of the FAO Conference adopted the binding International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IT-PGRFA). The Treaty will enter into force ninety days after ratification by forty states.

During this side event, José T. Esquinas-Alc�zar, the Secretary of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, presented the Treaty noting that it was being ratified quickly and likely to come into force in early 2004 with the ratifying governments making up its governing body. At the first meeting, the governing body will address important questions such as the level, form and manner of monetary payments on commercialization, a standard Material Transfer Agreement for plant genetic resources, mechanisms to promote compliance with the Treaty, as well as the funding strategy. Countries may therefore consider it important to be among the first to ratify, so as to ensure that their national interests can be taken into account at the governing body's first meeting, he therefore urged countries to ratify the Treaty rapidly. A Dakar Declaration on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was adopted by acclamation during the GFAR2003 closing ceremony (Box 7).

Emile Frison, incoming Director-General of IPGRI, made a brief presentation on the Global Conservation Trust, a CGIAR/FAO initiative designed to establish an endowment fund, with an initial and immediate target of US$100 million in 2003 and a longer-term target of US$260 million. The Trust will provide a flow of funds in perpetuity for ex situ conservation by national and international institutions, and for relevant capacity-building. It would also operate in the framework of the IT-PGRFA, and be an essential element of its funding strategy. The overall policy guidance for the Trust would come from the governing body of the Treaty. The FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture fully supports the initiative and has appealed to donors to assist in the establishment of the Trust, which would attract new and additional funds from a wide range of donors. The meeting participants warmly welcomed and supported the Global Conservation Trust.

Box 7. Dakar Declaration on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

In May 2000, in Dresden, Germany, participants in the Global Forum on Agricultural Research -representing national agricultural research systems, regional and sub-regional organizations, universities, advanced research institutions, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, Farmers' Organizations, multilateral and donor agencies, and international agricultural research centres- unanimously adopted the Dresden Declaration on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. We recognized the crucial importance of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, which have been developed by farmers and their communities over thousands of years, for food security and that all countries are now interdependent for accessing these plant genetic resources, on which food security and agriculture depend. This is the basis for Farmers' Rights.
We endorsed the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which was adopted by 150 countries in Leipzig, Germany in 1996, as the basic and comprehensive framework for undertaking those technical activities essential for effective conservation, development and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in the FAO global system. We expressed concern that coordinated implementation and associated financing of the plan had not been realized.
When we last met, the negotiations within the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources -subsequently crowned by success with the adoption of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture by consensus at the Thirty-first Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization, on 3 November 2001- were at a crucial stage.
We therefore urged governments to complete the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, thereby allowing for the effective implementation of a multilateral system of facilitated access and benefit-sharing for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, recognizing Farmers' Rights in plant genetic resources matters, and promoting the Global Plan of Action.
Now, three years after we adopted the Dresden Declaration, and one and a half years after the adoption of the International Treaty, we, the participants in the Global Forum on Agricultural Research in Dakar, Senegal

Warmly congratulate the governments of the world for having negotiated and adopted, through the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which addresses the special nature of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, their distinctive features and problems, and provides distinctive solutions;
Urge countries from all regions to ratify and accede to the International Treaty as rapidly as practicable, so that it may come into force as the agreed international framework for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the sharing of the benefits derived from this use; for the realization of Farmers' Rights; for implementing the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing, and for the implementation of the Global Plan of Action. The International Treaty will enter into force after it has been ratified or acceded to by 40 countries. The governing body will be composed of those countries that have ratified or acceded to the International Treaty. Its first meeting will take decisions on many crucial matters, such as the development of provisions for access, including matters related to intellectual property rights; benefit-sharing, including the amount and ways for sharing of the monetary benefits obtained from commercialization; compliance, and the funding strategy. We believe that it is therefore crucially important for countries and regions to be among those that constitute the first governing body, so that their national and regional interests may be fully taken into account;
Urge the effective implementation of the Global Plan of Action, including through national action and international cooperation, to provide a coherent framework for capacity-building, technology transfer and the exchange of information, including through the funding strategy of the International Treaty, which will mobilize funding for priority actions, plans and programs, in particular in developing countries and countries with economies in transition;
Call on national governments to take early measures to fully realize Farmers' Rights, as foreseen in the International Treaty.

Print version

GFAR Secretariat
c/o FAO, SDR, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla - 00100 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39.06.5705.3413 Fax +39.06.5705.3898
E-mail: