Genetic resources, Indigenous knowledge and benefit-sharing highlighted at a recent “FPIC Donors Task Force” meeting

A thematic session on “Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), genetic resources and collective rights” was jointly organized by the Secretariat of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit during a meeting of the “FPIC Donor Task Force”, held on 24–25 February 2026. The session brought together experts from FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, governments, Indigenous Peoples, funding agencies and other partners.

FPIC is a fundamental collective right of Indigenous Peoples. It safeguards Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories, resources, knowledge and culture, as well as their participation in decisions that affect them, directly or indirectly. FPIC embodies Indigenous Peoples’ rights to be consulted, to participate, and to set and control development priorities, including throughout the inception, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of any intervention that affect them.

The thematic session explored how FPIC must evolve beyond land-based interventions to encompass genetic resources, Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems, and emerging challenges such as access and benefit-sharing (ABS) and digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources.

Panelists highlighted that Indigenous Peoples are custodians of much of the world’s genetic resources and biodiversity for food and agriculture. While Indigenous Peoples have played a central role in the domestication of many crops and livestock species, they have historically received limited recognition or benefit from the commercialization of these genetic resources. Although international ABS frameworks exist, they often insufficiently acknowledge Indigenous Peoples as original stewards and developers. The session explored emerging challenges related to DSI, noting that technological advances allow genetic material to be accessed and used without physical interaction with Indigenous Peoples and often without their FPIC. This raises new concerns related to indigenous data sovereignty, ownership and equitable benefit-sharing.

Biocultural community protocols were presented as an important tool for mapping genetic resources and associated knowledge held by Indigenous Peoples, and for articulating their governance systems and expectations toward external actors. These protocols provide an interface between Indigenous Peoples’ customary governance systems and national legal frameworks, enabling their reciprocal and effective implementation by diverse actors.

Speakers emphasized that while FPIC is already complex in territorial contexts, its application to ensure the equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and associated knowledge requires additional capacity development.

The thematic session concluded that there is a need to better integrate FPIC into genetic resource governance, including conservation, sustainable use and access and benefit-sharing. It called for support to be provided to Members and Indigenous Peoples’s organizations, at their request, for the development of biocultural community protocols and other measures that strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ governance systems over their genetic resources and associated knowledge.

More information on the FPIC Donors Task Force meeting can be found online.