Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

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    The Inventory

    This online version of the Inventory presents, for each measure, the title and a brief description with information on implementing organization(s), start year, objectives, core elements, key outcomes, and, if applicable, lessons learned. It thus allows users to quickly identify those examples that may be of interest to them. A hyperlink to the original submission is provided, which includes additional information, such as on the history and context of the presented measure, challenges encountered, or target groups reached. In this way, users can get a more comprehensive idea of the measure in question and the specific context for which it was developed.
     
    To facilitate navigation, the Inventory is subdivided into eleven categories. Measures or practices that fall under more than one category are listed under each one that applies. Furthermore, information is provided on the type(s) of measures that are typically involved, such as technical, administrative, legal, and/or others, and on the relevant sub-article of Article 9 that is addressed. Additional search options allow searching by country, region, free text and keyword.
     
     
     
     
     
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    Number of records: 235

    196) Genetic Resources Consortium

    The Genetic Resource Consortium was started in 2013 under the coordination of the Indonesian Agency of Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and in collaboration with Agricultural Technology Assessment Institute (AIAT). The Consortium promoted a program to develop an inventory of local varieties/landraces in the entire country comprising of 34 provinces. Around 34,000 of local varieties/landraces were inventoried, recorded, and some of them were collected and conserved in the ex-situ conservation facilities., Varieties that may have economic value or the potential to be developed/improved are registered for PVP (around 350 varieties) and some of them are released as local superior varieties. This achievement was made possible with the involvement of local farmers as the main actors in the participatory varietal selection (PVS), and as the main beneficiaries of the varieties produced. In the PVS approach, the farmer has more decision in selecting the specific traits of the varieties to be developed. Because of their accumulated traditional knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation, farmers accelerated the selection of varieties that are highly adaptive to the local agro-ecological conditions. The great collaboration and strong networking among the central government, local government, researchers, and the farmer/community were the key to the success of the program.

    Category: 4.Catalogues, registries and other forms of documentation of PGRFA and protection of traditional knowledge

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative; Others

    197) Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) initiative

    Chile is one of the six pilot countries of the FAO- Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded global project on conservation and sustainable management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), an initiative launched in 2002. After project approval, a discussion between 2007 and 2009, led by Ministry of Agriculture, regarding GIAHS conservation activities for Chiloé Archipelago follows. These discussions finally led to the designation of the Chiloé Archipelago in Chile as a GIAHS in 2011. The objectives of GIAHS initiative in Chile include (1) to support the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity, its associated cultural and ancestral knowledge, and the goods and services it provides; (2) to develop and implement market strategies that support agrobiodiversity conservation, know-how and sustainable uses while improving local rural livelihoods; and (3) to incorporate conservation principles and agrobiodiversity valuation considerations into public-sector policies and programs. Activities relating to this initiative include capacity and awareness development, community seed banks, value-chain development and other value-creating and cultural activities (e.g. development of tourism) as well as participatory research. Lessons learned include that the sustainability of such initiatives can be enhanced by establishing governance structures that facilitate articulation of the different public and private actors; action plans further contribute to the sustainability.

    Category: 1.Recognition of local and indigenous communities’, farmers’ contributions to conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA, such as awards and recognition of custodian/guardian farmers

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

    198) Access and benefit sharing: capacity building / support multilateral system

    The Governments of the Netherlands and Iran are co-chairing a dedicated working group under the Treaty (ITPGRFA), to enhance the functioning of the Multilateral System. The group took up its work in 2014; negotiations are focused on increasing user-based payments and contributions to the Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund, with the overall objective to enhance the functioning of the Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing for food security and sustainable agriculture. The Working Group currently works on text-based negotiations for the revision of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) for exchanges of crops within the Treaty’s Multilateral System (MLS) (Annex I). At the same time, criteria and options are identified and considered for expansion of the coverage of the scope of the MLS. To reach compromise between the partners (Contracting Parties, private sector, NGO’s and academia), these two processes will need come into force at the same time. A detailed implementation plan to attain the enhanced MLS is under development and will take into account issues related to digital (sequence) information arising from PGRFA and Farmers Rights.

    Category: 2.Financial contributions to support farmers conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA such as contributions to benefit-sharing funds

    Type of measure/practice: Others

    199) Exceptions to plant breeders’ rights and patent rights in the Netherlands

    In the Netherlands, farmers have the right to save, use, exchange and sell of varieties not falling under the protection of plant breeders’ rights or patent rights. Though, these seeds need to comply with quality standards as defined in the national seed law, in accordance with the European Seed Marketing Directive. Regarding varieties protected by plant breeders’ rights or patent rights, the farm-saved seeds exemption applies. For plant varieties protected by national plant breeders’ rights, exemptions are regulated by the Dutch Seed Law (Zaaizaad- en plantgoedwet, 2005). For plant varieties protected by European plant breeders’ rights, exceptions are regulated by Regulation (EC) 2100/94 on Community plant variety rights. For plant varieties falling under a patent (Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions), the same provision applies. Based on these exemptions, farmers in the Netherlands can use farm-saved seeds of protected varieties of a number of agricultural crop species (e.g. cereals and potatoes) on their own farm against the payment of a remuneration to the holder of a plant breeders’ right, but are not allowed to market farm-saved seeds of protected varieties.

    Category: 10.Legal measures for the implementation of Farmers’ Rights, such as legislative measures related to PGRFA.

    Type of measure/practice: Legal

    200) Varieties for Diversity

    In 2013, the German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP), in co-operation with the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMEL) and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), established the initiative ‘Varieties for Diversity’. The objective is to enhance the availability of improved varieties to anybody who would wish to use those for the purposes and under the conditions of the Multilateral System (MLS). Thereby, the Varieties for Diversity initiative aims at implementing the principles of the breeders’ exemption also to those who might not be able to access the varieties concerned under normal market conditions. The core component is that protected premium plant varieties of German breeders are included in the MLS of the International Treaty. The varieties, including their climatic adaptations, are comprehensively described to facilitate the targeted selection of suitable plant material. They are easily accessible to anyone who signs the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) through the German National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources. For the genetic resources themselves, no payment is charged, but the recipient may have to pay for shipping costs and the necessary plant health certificates. So far, more than 300 varieties of German breeders have been included in the MLS.

    Category: 6.Facilitation of farmers’ access to a diversity of PGRFA through community seed banks, seed networks and other measures improving farmers’ choices of a wider diversity of PGRFA.

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative; Legal; Others