'International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture' (ITPGRFA)

Description

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Context

India will host the 9th Session of Governing Body of the 'International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture' (ITPGRFA) from 19-24th September, 2022 in New Delhi.

'International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture' (ITPGRFA)

About

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also known as ITPGRFA, International Seed Treaty or Plant Treaty), is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is a comprehensive agreement that aims to establish a global system which provides farmers, plant breeders, and scientists with access to plant genetic resources.
The treaty provides solutions to achieve food and nutritional security as well as climate resilient agriculture.

Aim and Objective

It aims at guaranteeing food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as the recognition of farmers' rights.

Signing

ITPGRFA is a legally binding comprehensive agreement adopted in November, 2001 at Rome during the 31st session of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which entered into force on June 29, 2004

Participating countries

There are 149 contracting parties to the Plant Treaty (147 Member States and 1 intergovernmental organization, the European Union). India is a party too.

Importance

Countries are inter-dependent for PGRFA and consequently a global order is essential to facilitate access and benefit sharing.
Thus, conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA are essential to achieving sustainable agriculture and food security, for present and future generations.
It is indispensable for crop genetic improvement to adapting to unpredictable environmental changes and human needs.
Because countries are interdependent in their reliance on PGRFA and the management of PGRFA is at the meeting point between agriculture, the environment and commerce, the International Treaty has established a multilateral system that facilitates continuous exchange of PGRFA (Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing).

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.

The Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. The United States is the only UN member state which has not ratified the Convention. It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the CBD and entered into force on 11 September 2003.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is another supplementary agreement to the CBD. It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. The Nagoya Protocol was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, and entered into force on 12 October 2014.

2010 was also the International Year of Biodiversity, and the Secretariat of the CBD was its focal point. Following a recommendation of CBD signatories at Nagoya, the UN declared 2011 to 2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity in December 2010.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1859894