Evaluation of the third project cycle of the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on the Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture


Book Description

In 2020, the FAO Office of Evaluation (OED) launched the evaluation of the third project cycle of the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF). The evaluation assessed the results of the programme and provided lessons learned and recommendations to inform the further development of the BSF programme. The BSF was established in 2009 by the Contracting Parties of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in the spirit of multilateralism to fund projects in developing countries to increase crop diversity and enable a dynamic exchange of plant genetic material for increased adaptation, agricultural diversification and food security. Since its inception, a total of USD 26 million has been invested in four project cycles. Nine recommendations emerge from this evaluation. These include the need to capitalize on BSF achievements by highlighting PGRFA as an indispensable element of farmers’ food and nutrition security while building on the biodiversity and climate change nexus to further advance the BSF’s alignments with SDG 2 (end hunger), SDG 13 (climate action) and the Paris Agreement on enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change by further sharpening, illustrating and concretizing the strategic importance of PGRFA to a resilient food and nutrition security in the context of climate change.




Plant Genetic Resources and Food Security


Book Description

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is a pivotal piece of recent legislation, providing a route map for the use of such resources for sustainable agriculture and food security. Plant Genetic Resources and Food Security explains clearly the different interests and views at stake between all players in the global food chain. It touches upon many issues such as international food governance and policy, economic aspects of food and seed trade, conservation and sustainable use of food and agricultural biodiversity, hunger alleviation, ecological concerns, consumers' protection, fairness and equity between nations and generations, plant breeding techniques and socio-economic benefits related to food local economies. The book shows that despite the conflicting interests at stake, players managed to come to an agreement on food and agriculture for the sake of food security and hunger alleviation in the world. Published with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and with Bioversity International.




Identifying Benefit Flows


Book Description

This publication compiles five studies and provides an overview of the conceptual bases for assigning monetary and non-monetary values to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. It also constitutes the first steps towards a projection of benefit flows over time. The studies brought together in this book aim to provide quantified information to the International Treaty stakeholders and the wider interest audience to help understand the economic dimensions of the Treaty as a whole and the Multilateral System and its benefits in particular.










Access to Plant Genetic Resources and the Equitable Sharing of Benefits


Book Description

The 6th session of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources requested that IPGRI study the feasibility of possible systems for the exchange of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)1 and the equitable sharing of benefits. The following report is the result of that study. It seeks to provide the Commission with a set of options and their implications and thus to inform international negotiationsconncerning the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Tesources. As part of the study process a wide series of consultations was held with major stakeholder groups. A fundamental justification for conserving and characterizing PGRFA is their potential for use in the development of improved crop varieties. These improved varieties are necessary to meet the food needs of a growing population and the demands of changing agro-ecological and social conditions.




The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture's Benefit-Sharing Mechanism as a Funding Instrument for an International Policy on GURTs


Book Description

The present work discusses the feasibility of using the benefit-sharing mechanism instituted by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as a funding instrument for an international policy on GURTs. The discussion is developed in 5 sections. The general features of the Treaty, as they are relevant to the proposed theme, are presented in Section 2. Sections 3 and 4 discuss the characterisation of GURTs as a trigger for the Treaty's benefit-sharing mechanism and the conditions under which such a mechanism may provide funding support for an international policy on these technologies. Section 5 addresses the problem of farmers' rights, seeking to identify points requiring further analysis so that the relevant GURTs' impacts may be properly assessed and measures to cope with these impacts be set. Besides funding, the challenges posed by GURTs will demand an appropriate regulatory response. Section 6 presents the points that have to be considered in this regard.










Access and benefit-sharing and genetic resources for food and agriculture: typology of country measures


Book Description

The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Commission), at its Seventeenth Regular Session, requested to prepare a survey of existing legislative, administrative and policy approaches, including best practices, for access and benefit-sharing (ABS) for the different subsectors of genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA) and traditional knowledge associated with GRFA (TKGRFA) held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, with the aim of identifying typical approaches and lessons learned from their implementation, as well as challenges and possible solutions. [Author] In response to the Commission’s request, a survey identifying the different types of legislative, administrative or policy measures countries have taken to accommodate the distinctive features of GRFA and subsectors of GRFA and of TKGRFA in their ABS measures was commissioned. [Author] At its Eighteenth Regular Session, the Commission, in considering the Survey, requested the preparation of a stand-alone document providing specific examples of existing country legislative, administrative or policy measures that directly or indirectly accommodate distinctive features of GRFA and associated traditional knowledge. [Author] This publication is Supplement I of the typology of ABS country measures reflecting the importance of GRFA, their special role for food security and their distinctive features. [Author]