Trade and biodiversity

The linkages between international agricultural trade and environmental sustainability are an important topic of debate at the ongoing negotiations on agriculture. There is the desire on the one hand that environmental issues be fully reflected in trade policy, but concern that they should not be used as barriers to trade.

Since the entrance into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993, countries that ratified the Convention have been legally bound to a commitment that aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and the equitable sharing of its benefits. Specifically Parties must establish rules governing access to biological resources, systems recognising the rights of local communities, mechanisms ensuring the transfer of appropriate technologies, and procedures for "the safe handling, use and transfer of living modified organisms."

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is an important international instrument governing the conservation and sustainable utilisation of agricultural biodiversity. The Treaty seeks to develop and maintain a balance between access to the new, commercial products of biotechnology on the one hand, and farmers' varieties and wild material on the other, as well as the interests of developed and developing countries, by balancing the rights of breeders (formal innovators) and farmers (informal innovators).

FAO, biodiversity and trade

FAO is involved in trade in biodiversity principally through the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. The Treaty aims to establish a multilateral system, which is efficient, effective and transparent. This will facilitate access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and to share the benefits arising from the utilisation of these resources, in a fair and equitable way.

For information please visit the FAO's website on Trade in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.