A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)and the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO International Treaty) was signed on July, 9 on the margins of the second meeting of the CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation,held in Montreal from 9 to 13 of July.
Agenda 2030 and the SDGs recognize the important of the benefit sharing from the use of the genetic resources and traditional knowledge. SDG 2 on zero hunger and SDG 15 on life on land – contain targets (2.5 and 15.6) calling for the promotion of access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources. The genetic resources are not evenly distributed. Access and sharing the benefits of their use create an impact on their conservation and sustainable use.
The internationally agreed and effective mechanisms of access and fair and sharing the benefits from the use of the genetical resources can contribute to the creation of a fair, more equitable economy and support sustainable development.
The CBD, its Nagoya Protocolon Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) and the FAO International Treaty constitute a part of the international regime on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) from the use of the genetic resources.The FAO International Treaty has established the Multilateral System of access to genetic materials of the 64 crops that “together account for 80 percent of all human consumption”(FAO) for the purposes of research, breeding and training for food and agriculture. It does not address ABS for other genetic resources for food and agriculture, including livestock, forest and aquatic genetic resources.
Having its own specific ABS rules, established by the FAO International Treaty, the food and agriculture sector, largely did not follow the negotiations of the Nagoya Protocol on ABS, that entered into force more than a decade after the FAO International Treaty. Nonetherless, these instrumentsserve a common goal. The Secretariats of the FAO International Treaty and the CBD have been working together to ensure that mutually supportive implementation of ABS instruments. “The achievements under the Nagoya Protocol will strengthen the implementation of the Treaty, while the Treaty’s successes will support the CBD in the accomplishment of its mandate. I thus could not be more pleased with our cooperation to date and I look forward to many more opportunities for us to work together in the future”, – said Dr Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the CBD.
The recent MoC focuses on enhancing the collaborative activities aimed at: capacity-building on access and benefit-sharing related to plant GRFA; collaborative efforts aimed at contributing to economic development, innovation and research; developing synergies between the FAO International Treaty’s Global Information Systemand the CBD’s Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House; implementing a joint initiative for on-farm conservation; working on sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and protected areas; promoting the importance of biodiversity and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, food security and nutrition under a changing climate.
