By Sally Bunning and Catherine Hill, 23.4.1996
As men and women farmers' knowledge, skills and practices contribute to the conservation, development, improvement, and management of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR), their different contributions should be recognized and respected by the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IU), particularly in terms of Farmers' Rights. Farmers' Rights are defined in an annex to the IU as follows:
"rights arising from the past, present and future contribution of farmers in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources, particularly those in the centres of origin/diversity". The purpose of these rights is stated to be "ensuring full benefits to farmers and supporting the continuation of their contributions."
The concept of Farmers' Rights provides a measure of counterbalance to "formal" Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and patents that compensate for the latest innovations with little consideration of the fact that, in many cases, these innovations are only the most recent step of accumulative knowledge and inventions that have been carries out over millennia by generations of men and women in different parts of the world.
An analysis and understanding of men and women farmers' differential roles and responsibilities in PGR conservation and management, as well as the intrinsic value of their knowledge, is crucial to sustainable, effective, and socio-economically appropriate PGR conservation initiatives, and to the provision of appropriate and targeted support. Efforts are requires at all levels to develop and implement gender-responsive policies, programmes and actions for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources.
It is important that Farmers' Rights, once fully operative, not only recognize the value of PGR resources, but also specify ways for benefits to accrue to the contributors, of whom many are women. Access to relevant decision-making processes, and recognition of the different experiences knowledge, needs and priorities are pivotal for all contributors to ensure that their different views are incorporated into activities associated with Farmers' Rights. This will , in turn, increase the likelihood of conservation of PGR overall, both for local utilization and for the sake of global biodiversity.