FAO Seed Treaty Carries Hope, Addressing Country Contributions, Farmers Concerns

The fourth session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was held in Bali, Indonesia from 14-18 March. The Treaty seeks to establish a global system to provide Treaty users to access global plant genetic materials, with a system of benefit sharing to remunerate countries from which materials originate if commercial benefits are accrued.

A number of resolutions have been put forward and adopted, among which were: "adoption of a resolution on farmer's rights; completion of the information technology infrastructure of the Treaty; and completion of the dispute resolution procedures for standard material transfer agreements." A resolution on the funding strategy for the Treaty, dedicating more than US$10 million to the second round of the projects of the benefit-sharing fund was also approved.

For more on the news, see http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2011/03/30/fao-seed-treaty-carries-hope-addressing-country-contributions-farmers-concerns/