Plant Genetic Resources and Food Security

Stakeholder Perspectives on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Christine Frison,Francisco Lopez,Jose Esquinas-Alcazar

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136536830
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Agronomia

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is a pivotal piece of recent legislation, providing a route map for the use of such resources for sustainable agriculture and food security.

Plant Genetic Resources and Food Security explains clearly the different interests and views at stake between all players in the global food chain. It touches upon many issues such as international food governance and policy, economic aspects of food and seed trade, conservation and sustainable use of food and agricultural biodiversity, hunger alleviation, ecological concerns, consumers' protection, fairness and equity between nations and generations, plant breeding techniques and socio-economic benefits related to food local economies.

The book shows that despite the conflicting interests at stake, players managed to come to an agreement on food and agriculture for the sake of food security and hunger alleviation in the world. Published with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and with Bioversity International.

chapter 1

Introduction

A Treaty to Fight Hunger – Past Negotiations, Present Situation and Future Challenges

José T. Esquinas-Alcázar, Christine Frison and Francisco López

This introduction provides readers with a general overview on the content and structure of the book, the context in which the major issues related to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) emerged, its relevance for human-kind and some interesting details of the negotiating and implementation process of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA – the Treaty). The authors have taken this opportunity to express their personal views on some of the major challenges ahead of the Treaty, which will be further developed in the concluding chapter of this volume.

About the book

This book touches upon wide-ranging issues, such as international food policies and governance, economic and social aspects of food and seed trade, conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity, hunger alleviation, ecological concerns, consumer protection, fairness and equity between nations and among generations, plant breeding techniques and climate change adaptation. It provides for an extensive overview of the ITPGRFA negotiating and implementation process, undertaken by the stakeholders themselves. The authors identified challenges faced by the ITPGRFA and its community of stakeholders during this new and exciting phase of implementation, and explained the different interests and views of the major players in the global food chain.

Chapters have been grouped into three parts. Part I provides the views and standpoints of a number of protagonists that were part of national delegations during the negotiating and implementation process. They stand for the seven regional groups of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East, North America and South West Pacific (Chapters 2 to 9). Part II brings together the opinions of key stakeholders involved in the food chain worldwide: farming communities, plant breeders, gene banks, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the seed industry, civil society organizations (CSOs) and consumers ( to 17). Finally, Part III puts forward the opinions of highly recognized experts regarding key aspects of the implementation of the Treaty (Chapters 18 to 20). Five annexes complement information on the ITPGRFA and its negotiation. Annex 1 lists the meetings held at the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for the negotiation of the Treaty (1983–2001), as well as the meetings that took place since the signature and entry into force of the Treaty (2002–2011). Annex 2 provides the list of all contracting parties to the Treaty, by FAO regional groups. Annex 3 details the main components of the Treaty. Annex 4 gives a national perspective on the implementation of the treaty by Brazil; while Annex 5 comes back to specific anecdotes from the inception of the Treaty negotiations which express well the atmosphere in which the discussions on an international instrument for PGRFA began.

With a concern for unity, the authors were requested to focus on specific issues, following essentially the guidelines below:

• Analyse the regions’ and stakeholders’ positions during the negotiation process and the early implementation phase.

• Analyse the merits and drawbacks of the Treaty.

• Examine the practical legal, political, environmental and economic issues that have arisen between all involved regions and stakeholders in the negotiation and implementation, focusing on the obstacles that have been overcome.

• Identify the main challenges ahead and summarize some of the options and views on how these could be met as already expressed by regions and stakeholders.

Given the nature of the book and the heterogeneity of stakeholders, their different interests and personalities, the chapters differ in style, content and conclusions. It has been the role of the editors to harmonize them, minimize the overlaps, make the appropriate cross-references and include tables, annexes and reference material, in an attempt to ease the book’s consultation and use. Every contribution bears in common the invaluable output to provide crucial information on stakeholders’ positions regarding the Treaty, information that has not yet been published elsewhere. The book shows that despite the conflicting interests, which are duly highlighted, all players manage to come to an agreement to share and help conserve PGRFA for the sake of global food security and hunger alleviation. This volume also assesses the prospects for an effective and rapid implementation of the Treaty, in some cases by rescuing some old aspirations that were left behind during the negotiation process and by tabling new ideas and innovative solutions.

World food context: Plant genetic resources, food security, sustainability and equity

States have repeatedly reiterated the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger and the right to adequate food. In 1996, world leaders stated that: ‘We consider it intolerable that more than 800 million people throughout the world, and particularly in developing countries, do not have enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs. This situation is unacceptable’ (Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 1996). This assertion led to more than just the inclusion of this fundamental human right within the international legal order as such. Indeed, these states committed to implement policies aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality while improving physical and economic access by all to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe food. They pledged to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished people to half of their present level no later than 2015.² A similar commitment was made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, and is included in the First Millennium Development Goal (MDGs).

Despite these pledges, the situation has worsened. Today, hunger and malnutrition reaches almost 1000 million people. As a consequence, 15 million people die every year, that is to say, more than 41,000 every day, the majority of whom are children. In addition, the world population is expected to reach 8.3 billion by 2030 and the Earth will have to feed an additional two billion people, of whom 90 per cent come from developing countries (SoW2-PGRFA, 2010).³ It is therefore crucial to ensure not only that enough food can be produced reliably to feed this expanding population, but also that it is accessible to all.

Within this context, one should recall that food security greatly depends on the conservation, exchange and wise use of agricultural biodiversity and the genetic resources that constitute such diversity. PGRFA are essential for sustainable agriculture and food production. They provide the building blocks for farmers, breeders and biotechnologists to develop new plant varieties necessary to cope with unpredictable human needs, growing food demands and changing environmental conditions.

From a socio-economic perspective, the importance of agriculture varies by region. Only 1.9 per cent of the population in North America is dependent on agriculture whereas this number reaches 50 per cent in Africa and Asia. Agricultural production remains the major source of income for about half of the world’s population (SoW2-PGRFA, 2010, p192). In spite of its vital importance for human survival, PGRFA are being lost at an alarming rate. Hundreds of thousands of farmers’ heterogeneous plant varieties and landraces, which have been developed for generations in farmers’ fields until the beginning of the 20th century, have been substituted by a very small number of modern and highly uniform commercial varieties. In the USA alone, more than 90 per cent of the fruit trees and vegetables that were grown in farmers’ fields at the beginning of the 20th century can no longer be found. Today only a few of them are maintained in gene banks. In Mexico, only 20 per cent of the maize varieties described in 1930 are now known. In China, in 1949 nearly 10,000 weed varieties were known and used. By the 1970s, only about 1000 remained in use. A similar picture is reported for melon varieties in Spain. In 1970, one of the authors of this chapter collected and documented over 350 local varieties of melons; today no more than 5 per cent of them can still be found in the field. The picture is much the same throughout the world (SoW1-PGRFA, 1996). This loss of agricultural biological diversity has not only affected small farmers’ livelihoods, but has also drastically reduced the capability of present and future generations to adapt to changing conditions.

In addition, many neglected crops and many wild relatives are expected to play a critical role in food, medicine and energy production in the near future. The FAO’s first report on the State of the World on Plant Genetic Resources (SoW1-PGRFA, 1996) estimated that some 7000 species had been used by mankind to satisfy human basic needs, while today no more than 30 cultivated species provide 90 per cent of human calorific food supplied by plants. Further-more, 12 plant species alone provide more than 70 per cent of all human calorific food and a mere 4 plant species (potatoes, rice, maize and wheat) provide more than half of all human calorific food.

Countries’ reliance on foreign PGRFA is one of the oldest forms of interdependence (Frison & Halewood, 2005), which goes right back to the Neolithic when the first crops spread from their centres of origins to the rest of the world. It can be said that today no country is self-sufficient with respect to the genetic resources for food and agriculture they rely on. Indeed, the average degree of interdependence among countries with regard to the most important crops is around 70 per cent (Table 1.1). Paradoxically, many economically poor countries happen to be among the richest in terms of genetic diversity needed to ensure human survival.

Table 1.1 Estimated range of interdependency (percentage) for regions’ agricultural development on genetic resources from elsewhere

Region	Minimum	Maximum
Africa	67.24	78.45
Asia and the Pacific region	40.84	53.30
Europe	76.78	87.86
Latin America	76.70	91.39
Near East	48.43	56.83
North America	80.68	99.74
Mean	65.46	77.28

Source: Flores Palacios (1997)

This table shows, for each region, the mean of countries’ degree of dependency on crop genetic resources which have their primary centre of diversity elsewhere. The indicator used is the food energy supply in the national diet provided by individual crops. On the basis of the primary area of diversity of each crop, the estimated dependency, with maximum and minimum indices, has been calculated, showing that there is a high rate of dependency in practically all cases.

Interdependence between generations is also strong. Agricultural biodiversity is a precious inheritance from previous generations. We have the moral obligation to pass it on intact to coming generations and allow them to face unforeseen needs and problems. However, up to now, the interests of future generations who neither consume, nor have the opportunity to speak or vote for themselves have not been adequately taken into account by our political and economic systems.

Although matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources and the management of related technologies may appear to be technical, they have, in reality, strong socio-economic, political, cultural, legal, institutional and ethical implications. Problems in these fields can put at risk the future of humanity. International cooperation in this area is therefore not a choice but a must and should focus on the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources, providing an essential incentive to ensure that countries, local farmers and breeders continue developing, conserving and making their genetic diversity available to humanity. Today, the Treaty is the legal and technical instrument specifically designed for this purpose.

To accomplish this task, the United Nations, as a universal intergovernmental forum, has a fundamental role to play in the facilitation of the necessary intergovernmental negotiations. In the 1970s, worldwide systematic actions began within the FAO, resulting in the adoption the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 1983 and the establishment of the intergovernmental Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), the forum within which the Treaty was negotiated. Stakeholders in the field have also played, and continue to play an important role in the common commitment of alleviating poverty and promoting food security. By their continuous practices of exchanging crops, farmers and researchers have set the ground for the formal realization of the global crop commons (Esquinas-Alcázar, 1991; Halewood and Nnadozie, 2008; Byerlee, 2010). International organizations active in the field, such as the CGIAR (see Chapter 11) also contributed to pave the road for such an open approach in the management of PGRFA for research and breeding (SGRP, 2003; CGIAR, 2009). Box 1.1 illustrates the history of the development and exchange of PGRFA from the dawn of agriculture to nowadays with special details in the last decades.

The negotiations of the Treaty were not alien to, but strongly influenced by the historical and geo-political context in which they were developed. In the 1970s and 1980s, when a utopian socialism was still believed to be possible, the almost romantic concept of plant genetic resources, seen as ‘heritage of mankind’ to be made ‘available without restriction’, was defended with passion by most of the developing countries and some developed countries. This idealistic vision was reflected in the 1983 International Undertaking (IU). After the fall of the Berlin wall and the start of an era of the so called ‘real politics’, neoliberal economic theories prevailed. These concepts of ‘heritage of mankind’ to be made ‘available without restriction’ were consequently downgraded by those of ‘global concern’, ‘state’s sovereignty’ and ‘facilitated access’, as reflecte...