Statement by Dan Leskien at the Tenth Governing Body Session of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
20/11/2023
Madam Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure, as Officer-in-Charge of the Secretariat of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to address the Governing Body at today’s opening session.
On behalf of the Commission Secretariat, I extend a warm welcome to all of you as we gather for the tenth session of the Governing Body.
As you will recall, the Commission negotiated, between 1994 and 2001, the International Treaty. But the close link between the Governing Body and the Commission is not only reflected in our common history. The International Treaty itself stresses the need for cooperation with the Commission in the periodic preparation of the reports on the state of world’s plant genetic resources and in the updating of the rolling Global Plan of Action. The Treaty recognizes the Global Plan of Action as one of its supporting components. It also stresses that benefits shall be shared and mobilized, taking into account the Global Plan of Action.
Consequently, the Commission, in July of this year, welcomed the collaboration with the International Treaty and invited the Governing Body to participate in the review of the next state of the world report and to contribute to the updating of the Global Plan of Action.
The journey to this 10th session led for many of you through Geneva, where the Convention on Biological Diversity last week held the first session of its Working Group dealing with the establishment of a multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits from digital sequence information on genetic resources. Allow me therefore to make a short observation on one of the centrepieces of the International Treaty: its Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing.
The Governing Body has decided to enhance the functioning of the Multilateral System, and I am confident that after the promising outcome of the Ninth Session in New Delhi you will make further progress in this regard at this meeting.
Indeed, the MLS can be enhanced and the Governing Body long ago recognized and acted upon this. However, recent global developments, whether we look at the Law of the Sea Biodiversity Agreement, the existing PIP Framework, the ongoing discussions in the World Health Organization, or the CBD negotiations on DSI, the Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing seems to have become a role model, a bestseller in international policy and law making on ABS.
The MLS stands for the recognition that all countries depend on the “alphabet of life” and that they benefit most if they all have access to it, of course on conditions that need to be agreed upon, but on conditions that facilitate, rather than restrict, access and sustainable use and on conditions that generate and distribute benefits fairly and equitably, in recognition of the sovereign rights of states and the rights of the stewards of the world’s biodiversity.
The Multilateral System of the Treaty has become a success story. Of course, not every success story has a happy end. But the happy end of this success story, of the MLS is in your hands, in the hands of the Governing Body.
I wish you inspiration, a sense of compromise and the best of luck in your deliberations and efforts this week!
Thank you.
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure, as Officer-in-Charge of the Secretariat of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to address the Governing Body at today’s opening session.
On behalf of the Commission Secretariat, I extend a warm welcome to all of you as we gather for the tenth session of the Governing Body.
As you will recall, the Commission negotiated, between 1994 and 2001, the International Treaty. But the close link between the Governing Body and the Commission is not only reflected in our common history. The International Treaty itself stresses the need for cooperation with the Commission in the periodic preparation of the reports on the state of world’s plant genetic resources and in the updating of the rolling Global Plan of Action. The Treaty recognizes the Global Plan of Action as one of its supporting components. It also stresses that benefits shall be shared and mobilized, taking into account the Global Plan of Action.
Consequently, the Commission, in July of this year, welcomed the collaboration with the International Treaty and invited the Governing Body to participate in the review of the next state of the world report and to contribute to the updating of the Global Plan of Action.
The journey to this 10th session led for many of you through Geneva, where the Convention on Biological Diversity last week held the first session of its Working Group dealing with the establishment of a multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits from digital sequence information on genetic resources. Allow me therefore to make a short observation on one of the centrepieces of the International Treaty: its Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing.
The Governing Body has decided to enhance the functioning of the Multilateral System, and I am confident that after the promising outcome of the Ninth Session in New Delhi you will make further progress in this regard at this meeting.
Indeed, the MLS can be enhanced and the Governing Body long ago recognized and acted upon this. However, recent global developments, whether we look at the Law of the Sea Biodiversity Agreement, the existing PIP Framework, the ongoing discussions in the World Health Organization, or the CBD negotiations on DSI, the Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing seems to have become a role model, a bestseller in international policy and law making on ABS.
The MLS stands for the recognition that all countries depend on the “alphabet of life” and that they benefit most if they all have access to it, of course on conditions that need to be agreed upon, but on conditions that facilitate, rather than restrict, access and sustainable use and on conditions that generate and distribute benefits fairly and equitably, in recognition of the sovereign rights of states and the rights of the stewards of the world’s biodiversity.
The Multilateral System of the Treaty has become a success story. Of course, not every success story has a happy end. But the happy end of this success story, of the MLS is in your hands, in the hands of the Governing Body.
I wish you inspiration, a sense of compromise and the best of luck in your deliberations and efforts this week!
Thank you.