12/05/2023

USD 11 Million to be Invested in the Fifth Cycle of Benefit-sharing Fund Projects

Rome, 9 May 2023 – Twenty-eight projects have been approved for Benefit-sharing Fund support by the Standing Committee on the Funding Strategy and Resource Mobilization of the International Treaty. The Committee met in Rome from 3 to 5 May and approved a portfolio that includes projects from all regions, which included several countries and institutions that will participate in the Fund for the first time.

“We are excited with the very high quality of the project proposals approved in this cycle and look forward to working together with the successful institutions to build a strong programme on PGRFA management and conservation,” said Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. “After a thorough appraisal process, we believe that the Committee has chosen a balanced portfolio of projects with great potential for positively impacting smallholder farmers in developing countries, and for the implementation of the International Treaty globally.”

The screening and appraisal process was conducted by an independent Panel of Experts, that presented its methodology and outcomes to the Committee. “It has been a very interesting process to be a part of and the Committee has expressed its appreciation for the transparency and efficiency of the work undertaken to identify the project proposals to be funded,” said Committee Co-chair, Katlyn Scholl. Co-chair, Eric Bentsil Quaye, added:“We are very pleased with the final portfolio of projects selected and see their potential to play a catalytic role in international cooperation in the area of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.”

BSF-5 is the first funding cycle to implement the new approach set out in the new BSF Operations Manual, with significant emphasis on knowledge exchange, and a new modality to fund second phases of projects from previous BSF cycles. The selected second phase projects show potential to leverage promising achievements and innovations that are of strategic importance to the International Treaty and the BSF programme.

Investing over USD 11 million

“We are grateful for the contributions that have made BSF-5 possible,” said the Secretary Nnadozie. “Thanks to the generous contributions by donors, BSF-5 has over USD 11 million to provide to projects around the world,” he added. 

Contributors to BSF-5 include the European Commission, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Further contributions have been made by SEMAE (formerly, Groupement National Interprofessionel des Semences), ProSpecieRara Hauptsitz and a Norwegian initiative to contribute a percentage of the value of their annual national seed sales to the BSF. In addition to these voluntary contributions, BSF-5 has also received user-based income from the International Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing.

> Go to list of approved project proposals

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