Delegates have been circling around the issue of digital sequence information (DSI) since the session’s beginning, but on Thursday, they finally dived in for the catch. The ninth session of the Governing Body (GB 9) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA or Treaty) continued with plenary deliberations on the Multi-Year Programme of Work, including DSI. Delegates also addressed administrative matters, including appointment of the Secretary.
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The contact group on enhancing the Multilateral System (MLS) concluded its meeting with agreement to re-establish the intersessional working group to restart the negotiations that stopped abruptly at GB 8. Delegates agreed on terms of reference for the working group, including composition, observer participation, and schedule. On the basis of the terms of reference of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group that conducted the negotiations until GB 8, they agreed that the process would aim at:
- Increasing the benefits that arise from the MLS for all parties and users, both monetary and non-monetary;
- Increasing user-based income to the Benefit-sharing Fund;
- Expanding the crop and plant genetic diversity available through the MLS;
- Improving the availability of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in the MLS;
- Make the MLS more dynamic given that there are new and emerging issues to consider; and
- Create legal certainty, administrative simplicity, and transparency.
The contact group on farmers’ rights continued its deliberations on a draft resolution late into the evening, with delegates debating steps forward on guidance for implementation of farmers’ rights. Informal discussions continued on guardians of crop diversity. The budget committee resumed its deliberations in the evening.
Side-events held during the day focused on genebanking of agroforestry tree species, DSI, and farmer seed systems.
All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For the 9th Session of the ITPGRFA Governing Body, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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Plenary Session
Francisco López, ITPGRFA Secretariat, and Yasmina El Bahloul, Chairperson, ITPGRFA GB 9
Daniele Manzella, ITPGRFA Secretariat
Marliese von den Driesch, Germany
Joaquín Salzberg and Patricia Gadaleta, Argentina
Dominic Anak Chunggat, Malaysia
Mahendra Persaud, Guyana
Vojtěch Holubec, Czechia
Nithin Ramakrishnan, Third World Network
Roger Alberto Becerra Gallardo, Peru
Catherine Karr-Colque, US
Gisela Illescas Palma, International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty
Christine Frison, Catholic University of Louvain
Bienvenu Ntsouanva, Congo
Damas Mamba Mamba, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Yousef Wjhani, Syria
Contact Group on Enhancing the MLS
Co-facilitators François Pythoud, Switzerland, and Sunil Archak, India
Katlyn Scholl, US
Yoshiko Motoyama, Japan
Pierre du Plessis, African Union
Khaled Abulaila, Jordan
Contact Group on Farmers’ Rights
Co-facilitators Rakesh Chandra Agrawal, India, and Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Torheim, Norway
César Tapia Bastidas, Ecuador
Laila Sasi Younes, Libya
Mario Marino, ITPGRFA Secretariat
Mariem Omrani, France
Patricia Gadaleta, Argentina
Side Event: Access and Benefit Sharing and Digital Sequence Information: Unravelling the Knot
Christine Frison, Catholic University of Louvain
Charles Lawson, Griffith University
Rachel Wynberg, University of Cape Town
Elsa Tsioumani, University of Trento / ENB
Regine Andersen, The Fridtjof Nansen Institute
Daniele Manzella, ITPGRFA Secretariat
Joy Angelica Santos-Doctor, the Philippines
Between Sessions
From L-R: K.V. Prabhu; Rakesh Chandra Agrawal; Ashwani Kumar; Pratibha Brahmi; and Sunil Archak, India
César Tapia Bastidas, Ecuador, with Axel Diederichsen, Canada
Delegates from Australia conferring
Cultural Events
