Enhancing the functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and BenefitSharing under the Plant Treaty – Results from an international survey

FNI Policy Brief 4 2022 Despite major achievements, the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (MLS) under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is not functioning according to expectations, and negotiations in this regard came to a halt in 2019. This survey explores options for resuming negotiations on enhancing the functioning of the MLS and is targeted at negotiators and observers in this context. Ninety-five individuals and groups from different regions and stakeholder groups responded to the survey, almost all with experience from delegations or as observers at relevant meetings. The respondents provided their reflections on topics such as whether there is a need to resume negotiations; if so, for what purposes; what the elements of a functioning MLS could be, how the difficult questions of ‘digital sequence information’ (DSI) and expanding the list of crops covered by the MLS could be handled in this context; major stumbling blocks for negotiations; and how, more precisely, negotiation could possibly be resumed. The results are presented in this report. Many respondents made use of opportunities to write free texts and provided insightful suggestions. Studying these proposals may also be useful in finding a way forward.