Briefing on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: - Innovation, Access and Benefit- sharing Dr. Shakeel Bhatti Secretary, ITPGRFA WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore Geneva, 14 February 2012

Overview 1.The International Treaty (IT) 2.Cluster A: the IT & defensive protection 3.Cluster B: the IT & disclosure requirements 4.Cluster C: IT, contractual clauses & benefit-sharing 5. Discussion and conclusions

Overview 1.The International Treaty (IT) a.Why a Treaty on agricultural plant genetic resources? b.What are the Treaty systems? c.Implementation progress

The Treaty deals with plant genetic resources for food and agriculture What is special about genetic resources for food and agriculture? How do they differ from other genetic resources?

Farming communities all over the world have developed agricultural genetic resources for 10,000 years Agriculture began 10,000 years ago, with the Neolithic revolution in “centres of origin”, for example: –The Near East: wheat and barley –Meso-America: maize –South-East Asia: rice –Africa: millet and sorghum –The Andes: the potato

The centres of diversity of some major plants

Farmers “created” and shared crops Farmers altered the original wild plants They created diversity by adapting crops to new ecosystems and new human needs Their enormous contributions are recognized in «Farmers’ Rights» (Art.9) under the International Treaty

Agriculture has always been based on access and exchange, not on exclusivity People have always swapped their crops and “landraces” Farmers exchange seeds and breed exotic material into their crops, in order to avoid productivity declines

Crops are spread all over the world, and Food security depends overwhelmingly on a few crops …

So what is special about agricultural genetic resources? To feed the world, we all need these resources. Agricultural resources have been shared and exchanged over thousands of years. Thus, it is mostly impossible to identify a single country of origin. Countries and regions are “interdependent”: all depend for their food and agriculture on crops that originated elsewhere. Therefore, for these agricultural resources the Treaty implements ABS in a multilateral approach: –facilitate access –share benefits.

These are the challenges to which the International Treaty on Plant Genetic resources for Food and Agriculture – a binding, legal international instrument - responds

The scope of the Treaty is all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture J.T.Esquinas

What are the Treaty’s objectives? The conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture The fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security

Article 9: Farmers’ Rights Recognition of the enormous contribution that farmers and their communities have made and continue to make to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources. Farmers’ Rights include: –the protection of traditional knowledge –the right to participate equitably in benefit-sharing –the right to participate in national decision-making about plant genetic resources. Governments are responsible for realizing these rights. J.T. Esquinas

Workshop Side-event on Farmers’ Rights at IGC-20 Governing Body requested: “the Secretary to convene regional workshops on Farmers’ Rights, …, aiming at discussing national experiences on the implementation of Farmers’ Rights as set out in Article 9 of the International Treaty, involving, as appropriate, farmers’ organizations and other stakeholders.” Monday, 14 February , Salle B Light lunch is provided J.T. Esquinas

The Multilateral System of Access and Benefit- sharing The Treaty establishes a multilateral system, both to facilitate access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and to share, in a fair and equitable way, the benefits arising from their use. It applies to a list of crops established according to criteria of food security and interdependence These provide about 80% of our food from plants

Multilateral System P1 R1 R2 SMTA 2 SMTA 1 SMTA 3 On-farm conservation information exchange & tech.transfer sustainable use 1,1% of net sales Priorities Criteria Operational Procedures Private Sector Voluntary contributions (eg, NW) Benefit- sharing fund CP Int’l org Natural and legal person Others International Treaty main operational systems & mechanisms priority: farmers in developing countries who conserve and sustainably utilize PGRFA 1.5 million+ accessions 440,000+ transfers/yr 800+ transf/day

The Multilateral System “pools” these crucial plant genetic resources They are available under a Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) “Intellectual property or other rights that limit access to the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, or their genetic parts and components, in the form received from the Multilateral System” may not be claimed There is no tracking of individual accessions Recipients must continue to make the materials received available

Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) contains operational benefit-sharing provisions: –1.1% of the sales of a commercialized product which incorporates material from the Multilateral System, when there are restrictions, such as patents, that result in the product not being freely available to others for research and breeding; –a crop ‑ based payment system, whereby user pays a lower rate, namely 0.5%, on all his commercialized products of a particular crop, regardless of whether material from the MLS is incorporated in those products, and regardless of whether or not they are freely available to others for research and breeding through the exercise of IPRs applied worldwide; Information technology systems established to operationalize the SMTA

The Treaty includes “supporting components” The Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture State of the World Report on PGRFA Agreements with International Agricultural Research Centres ex situ collections (about 600,000 accessions) International Plant Genetic Resources Networks The Global Information System

Benefit-sharing a) Exchange of information b) Access to and transfer of technology c) Capacity-building d) Sharing the monetary benefits of commercialization Facilitated access itself a major benefit

The Treaty facilitating climate-ready seeds for farmers Food security, climate adaptation, rural viability… Facilitated Access Non monetary benefits BSF Seeds Technology Information Financing Breeding, Conservation, sustainable use MLS

Benefit-Sharing Mechanism under ITPGRFA Exchange of information Technology transfer Capacity building Benefit-sharing Funds Projects Monetary BS Funding priorities Non-monetary BS

24 Leading the Field A major international effort to achieve equity and food security for all

Multilateral System P1 R1 R2 SMTA 2 SMTA 1 SMTA 3 Benefit- sharing fund CP Int’l org Natural and legal person l Others Monetary Benefit Sharing Product 2. Alternative payment scheme « Crop based payment « The recipient shall pay 0,5%, of the sales of any PGRFA product belonging to the same crop to which the accessed material belongs, regardless of restrictions for further research and breeding. The recipient shall pay 0,5%, of the sales of any PGRFA product belonging to the same crop to which the accessed material belongs, regardless of restrictions for further research and breeding. 0,77% of the gross income from sales of the product 1. Normal payment scheme Available without restriction to others for further research and breeding Not available without restriction to others for further research and breeding Voluntary Contribution If the product is

Benefit-sharing Fund: Case of the Project in Peru Conservation and sustainable use of native potato diversity in the “Potato Park”, Cusco, Peru - Established as an Indigenous Biocultural Territory (6,000+ people) - Conserving, nurturing and celebrating rich diversity of native potato and its habitats - Holding a collection of 1,345 native potato varieties

- Expanding the capacity of Potato farmers in PGRFA management in order to contribute to climate change adaptation and food security - Developing novel products based on native potatoes and traditional knowledge - Establishment of local register for native crops and climate change - Technical identification and characterization of native potatoes - Repatriation of potato varieties - Identification of biocultural products, niches and markets Benefit-sharing Fund: Case of the Project in Peru

-Database of Local Biocultural Register for native crops and climate change -Characterization of 1,345 native potato varieties -Strengthening traditional practices related to adaptation of native crops to climate change Benefit accrues not only to local farmers, but also to global community through enhanced availability of potato germplasm which are of importance to food security and climate adaptation Benefit-sharing Fund: Case of the Project in Peru