16/03/2011

BALI — According to a report prepared by the Secretariat to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture made available today at the Fourth Session of the Governing Body in Bali, 127 countries have now signed the Treaty, and the gene pool created under it has reached 1.5 million samples of the world’s 64 most important food crops. Meanwhile, a number of the signatories—technically known as Contracting Parties— are still in the process of making their crop collections available through the Treaty’s sharing system.

“Leading countries are urging other signatories to the Treaty to act quickly to help it live up to its potential as a hedge against hunger and climate change,” said Clive Stannard, consultant and former interim Secretary of the Treaty. “This is the world’s best shot at ensuring equitable access to the world’s most precious resource—the crop diversity that underlies our food supply".

In its report, the Secretariat highlighted the rapid progress that has been made in the last two years toward full implementation of the Treaty, but called for more resources to support conservation and breeding activities in developing countries, and to address their enormous lack of basic resources and infrastructure in this regard.

The global pact has built a strong foundation for spreading the wealth of the world’s crop diversity—and sharing the benefits that emerge from these exchanges. And one-sixth of the signatories have made their crop collections available under the Treaty. But more international commitment is urgently needed, and a mechanism for ensuring compliance with the terms of the Treaty remains unresolved.

“With climate change already altering growing conditions and populations rapidly increasing, preserving and sharing crop diversity on a global scale is no longer optional,” said Dr. Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the Treaty’s Governing Body. “No country – rich or poor – has within its borders the crop diversity required to meet future food needs. All countries need to improve the way they share their seed crop material as a matter of great urgency.”

The Bali conference is taking place in the shadow of an emerging food crisis. A handful of climatic events in the last year—such as droughts in Russia and China, and floods in Australia and Pakistan—have contributed to a 29 percent increase in food prices, which are now higher than they have been in decades. The swift rise in prices is alarming because of its potential to deepen poverty and cause political instability.

Meeting the growing demand for assistance in using and adapting crop diversity will first and foremost require more contributions to the Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund. Eventually, financial needs will be met partly through a 1.1 percent levy on revenue generated by patented products, such as new crop varieties, developed using materials accessed through the Treaty. But it may take years for a substantial amount of money to flow via this mechanism. In the meantime the Benefit-sharing Fund relies on voluntary contributions.

But the news is not all bad. “Fortunately, people are starting to realize that our collective fate is tied to embracing an international system that will bring on a new generation of high-yielding, crop varieties that can withstand the most serious effects of climate change,” said Dr. Bhatti.

He notes in particular that 127 countries have now signed the Treaty, and that 1.5 million samples of the world’s 64 most important food crops have been added to the gene pool created by the Treaty. Between 600 and 800 samples are exchanged each day through the Treaty’s Standard Materials Transfer Agreement (SMTA), which has been instrumental in overcoming legal obstacles that in the past have prevented breeders and researchers from gaining access to critically needed crop-breeding materials.

The Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia HE Ir. Suswono announced earlier this week that Indonesia will be the first developing country to offer a financial contribution to the global fund of the International Treaty with a USD 100,000 contribution. Contributions to the Fund are a concrete and tangible expression of the importance given to the Benefit-sharing Fund. The Minister said “We ministers responsible for implementation of the Treaty, are recognizing the importance and unique role of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to address the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change and demonstrate that the Treaty is vital to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, and ensure environmental sustainability.” For these reasons, he appealed to other countries to follow the example and contribute to the Fund.

With their contribution, Indonesia joins other countries such as Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain that have recently contributed to the Benefit-sharing Fund. High-impact projects to support farmers to adapt to climate change through the use of plant genetic diversity will soon be approved for funding by the Benefit-sharing Fund. The expected funding for these projects in this year will be at least USD10 million.

The Fund is now funding projects all around the world to help farmers in 11 developing countries conserve crop diversity and to adapt to weather extremes and other threats to food security.

For example, in Peru, the Benefit-Sharing Fund is helping to maintain biodiversity in the 15,000-hectare “Potato Park”, where local and indigenous farmers are reintroducing thousands of heirloom potato varieties to adapt them to rising temperatures. Scientists predict that diseases and other threats aggravated by climate change could curtail potato yields by one-third in coming decades.

“Farmers and plant breeders are in a race against time to develop new varieties that can avert major food shortages caused by climate change,” said Alejandro Argumedo, Andes Association Coordinator. “Initiatives like Potato Park are our best bet for winning that race.”

Fostering Exchange and Conservation

Delegates in Bali examined ways to encourage more countries to make voluntary financial contributions to the Benefit-sharing Fund and canvassed ways to encourage seed and food-processing industries to also contribute to the Fund.

Several officials also noted that the Treaty is providing non-monetary assistance to developing countries by offering greater access to new crop varieties. A report by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), whose research centers are among the biggest contributors of genetic resources to the Treaty, shows that the pact is facilitating a significant transfer of crop technology to developing countries. According to the report, 1.15 million crop samples had been distributed only by the Centers under Treaty protocols.

“All countries stand to benefit from participating in a truly global system because, at some point in the near future, everyone is going to need an infusion of crop materials to improve their food security,” said Bert Visser, director of the Netherland’s Center for Genetic Resources, which has made its full collection accessible to Treaty signatories. “Participating in the Treaty is not an exercise in altruism but a recognition of mutual self-interest.”

The Bali meeting came in the wake of the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which acknowledges the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as the primary legal instrument for facilitating access and benefit-sharing related to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Dr. Ahmed Djoghlauf participated in both the Ministerial Conference and the opening session of the meeting, and addressed countries and observers, saying that both the Nagoya protocol and the international Treaty are complimentary agreements. This will become increasingly important: the Treaty is already far advanced in terms of national adoption, while national consideration of the Nagoya protocol has not yet begun.