14/07/2015

Sweden’s International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has announced four annual contributions to the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty, adding up to a total amount of approximately USD 300,000, which will be invested in the Fourth Project Cycle.

The Swedish decision to make regular contributions serves to illustrate one way of ensuring a steady flow of funds to support the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) and to a package of projects that foster the role of plant biodiversity in the scaling up of climate-smart agriculture.  “If all Contracting Parties were to make a similar arrangement  – of contributing even a modest amount into this Fund  – the resulting total contribution would help ensure funding for the fourth and other future BSF project cycles,” said Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the International Treaty.

The Benefit-sharing Fund directly supports farmers in developing countries in managing crop genetic resources for sustainable food security and improved livelihoods. These projects have already identified and conserved climate-resilient crop varieties in countries like Kenya, Guatemala and Nepal, thus providing an important back-up for food production in times of climate change.

As a Contracting Party of the International Treaty, Sweden already contributes to the core administrative budget of the Treaty. The annual amount provided by Sweden will be 1 million SEK, two-thirds of which will be for the Benefit-Sharing Fund  between 2014 and 2017.

Scaling up the results and the impact

The latest results coming in from the projects of the second cycle of the Fund show that more than 700,000 people – most of them farming families – have already benefitted from the support of the Benefit-sharing Fund. Additionally, long-term benefits for society could be substantial according to the information that is being gathered as part of the monitoring and evaluation process, particularly given the necessity of changing to more climate-smart agriculture. A detailed report will be made available on the occasion of the Sixth Session of the Governing Body in October 2015.

Under the third BSF project cycle, approved in March 2015, the International Treaty will invest over USD 10 million in 22 projects around the world. Nevertheless, according to the targets established multilaterally by countries through the Strategic Plan for Resource Mobilization, more funding is needed in order to continue the on-the-ground activities through future BSF project cycles.

The annual contributions of Sweden to the Benefit-sharing Fund comes in addition to  earlier contributions from the European Union, Italy, Norway and Indonesia, among others. This is not the first time Sweden has supported Treaty activities. In the past, Sweden also funded the Joint Implementation Capacity Building Programme of the Treaty.