Farmers’ Rights and the Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was signed in 2001 to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and recognize the contribution of farmers to protecting and developing plant genetic resources over generations. Two key components of the Treaty are Article 6 on the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and Article 9 on Farmers’ Rights. The Treaty entered into force in 2004, but few steps have been taken towards the implementation of these articles, and few Contracting Parties have contributed funding to the conservation and renewal of agricultural biodiversity through the Benefit-Sharing Fund. Six years after its entry into force, therefore, its implementation remains largely symbolic, and civil society organizations have a key role in facilitating action.
At its June 2009 meeting in Tunis the Governing Body of the Treaty requested that Contracting Parties and other relevant organizations submit views and experiences on the implementation of Farmers’ Rights. Moreover, the Governing Body adopted Resolution 6/2009, which requests the Secretariat of the Treaty to convene regional workshops in order to examine the obstacles to and collect experiences on the implementation of Farmers’ Rights.
In this respect and in preparation for the next Governing Body meeting in Bali in March 2011, the European Coordination for Farmers’ Seeds – Let’s Liberate Diversity! in collaboration with other organizations is convening a regional European workshop in Szeged, Hungary, on February 24, 2011 with the aim of presenting bottlenecks and experiences for a thorough implementation of the Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic resources for Food and Agriculture and Farmers’ Rights in Europe. The workshop will focus on the relationship between Articles 6 and 9 of the Treaty, taking into account the positions of different stakeholders whose views are usually excluded from the Treaty Negotiations.
The event is organised with the financial support of the Federal Office for Agriculture (OFAG) of the Swiss Confederation and the Education and Culture DG – Lifelong Learning programme: Leonardo da Vinci partnership .
Results of the Regional European workshop will be shared with the participants of the European forum on agricultural biodiversity – Let’s Liberate Diversity! - on February 25-26, 2011.
- Regional European workshop on the Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and Farmers’ Rights (workshop description)
- Global consultation on Farmers’ Rights : A global consultation conference on national experiences about the Realisation of Farmers’ rights, with regional components and 52 participants representing a wide range of stakeholders and countries, took place in Addis Ababa 23-25 November 2010. The conference was organized by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, and hosted by the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation, Ethiopia. The results of the global consultation process will be presented in an input paper to be submitted to the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty at its Fourth Session in 2011, as a basis for an agenda item on Farmers’ Rigths. (consultation website and conference documents).