Project goals

• Promote national implementation ofthe multilateral system of access andbenefit-sharing (MLS) of the InternationalTreaty on Plant Genetic Resources forFood and Agriculture (the Treaty).

• Increase countries’ overall participationin the MLS, as both providers andrecipients of genetic resources.

• Pursue options for benefiting fromother aspects of the Treaty, includingtechnology transfer.

Participating countries

Eight core countries: Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Nepal, Rwanda and Uganda.

Countries that benefited through collaboration: Benin, India, Madagascar, Malaysia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Capacity-building efforts

The eight country research teams were trained in the following skills:

Identify policy actors and analyze networks to map key people, networks and coalitions

that influence policies and laws regarding plant genetic resources; to understand flows of information and financial resources and decision-making processes; to identify overlooked actors who should be included; and to suggest more inclusive processes. These analyses raised the awareness of key stakeholders and contributed to building/strengthening a national policy platform.

Map the flow of plant genetic resources and demonstrate interdependence on external germplasm. The country studies provided empirical evidence of the large extent to which the eight countries depend on foreign-sourced plant genetic resources for their agricultural research and development (including breeding) and, ultimately, for food security.

Develop a comprehensive seed resilience strategy allowing farmers to access and use plant genetic diversity more effectively in the context of adaptation to climate change. The strategy combines the use of climate and crop modelling tools and participatory research methods. The eight country studies identified the future need for plant genetic resources in light of

Strengthening national capacities to implement the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and AgricultureProject highlights

Compiled by Ronnie Vernooy

Top photo: Sharing seeds and related knowledge at a diversity fair (Bhutan). Credit: Bioversity International/R.Vernooy

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climate change and contributed ideas for the development of resilient seed-management strategies.

Use a case study method to document the experiences, achievements and challenges of community seedbanks to systematize experiences and explore options for linking farmers to the Treaty and allowing them to benefit from better access to diverse, high-quality seeds. This research also provided country overviews of seed regulations and how they can be adjusted to promote and support community seedbanks and contribute to on-farm and in situ agrobiodiversity conservation, both legally binding obligations of all Contracting Parties to the Treaty. Country case studies were included in a book about community seed banking experiences from around the world edited by Ronnie Vernooy, Pitambar

Shrestha and Bhuwon Sthapit, and published by Earthscan for Routledge.

Highlights of the results

The multi-sectoral, multi-institutional and multi-stakeholder approach used by the project strengthened inter-institutional collaboration and cooperation in national efforts to implement the Treaty and the MLS. It created the necessary awareness among key stakeholders and facilitated their continued active participation in implementation processes. The approach was also effective in bringing together both the policy actors responsible for implementation of the Treaty and those involved with the Convention on Biological Diversity (the Nagoya Protocol). These actors have begun to work in a mutually supportive manner to harmonize implementation of both agreements at the national level by overcoming distrust and building synergy.

By December 2016, all eight countries had:

Achieved significant progress in developing policies/laws and introducing them into formal national policy processes to create the necessary policy/legal space for Treaty implementation.

• Bhutan: An interim Access andBenefit Sharing (ABS) policy wasapproved and a Biodiversity Bill,2016, was submitted for approvalby parliament.

• Burkina Faso: A new law onaccess to plant genetic resourcesfor food and agriculture (PGRFA)and the sharing of benefitsarising from their use wasprepared and submitted forapproval by parliament.

• Costa Rica: Key governmentagencies signed a memorandumof understanding that spellsout the procedures and eachagency’s tasks in relation to

Photo: Government participants from Nepal at the tandem workshop in the Philippines (2017).Credit: Bioversity International/R.Vernooy

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implementation of the MLS; provisions to create legal space for the implementation of the MLS in the new national law on ABS are currently being developed.

• Côte d’Ivoire: A new ABSlaw has been drafted and isawaiting further review by keystakeholders before beingsubmitted to parliament forapproval.

• Guatemala: Contributions havebeen made to the developmentof a new national law on ABSto ensure legal space for theMLS; this process is being led bythe Consejo Nacional de AreasProtegidas (National Board forProtected Areas).

• Nepal: The NationalAgrobiodiversity Policy, 2007was amended in 2014 andapproved by parliament; a newAgrobiodiversity Conservationand Utilization Act was preparedand submitted for approvalby parliament; a Treaty/MLSimplementation strategy andaction plan for 2015–2020was approved and is beingimplemented.

• Rwanda: Two new draft lawshave been developed: onenational ABS law to implementthe Nagoya Protocol, and onelaw to implement the Treaty.

• Uganda: Tripartite agreementbetween national competentauthority and two lead agenciesfor the Nagoya Protocol and theTreaty was approved. Revisednational environment regulations(covering access to geneticresources and benefit-sharing)were submitted for approval;a temporary procedure foraccessing PGRFA (statutoryinstrument) was approved and isbeing implemented.

Designated national competent authorities with responsibility to consider requests for access to PGRFA and facilitate sharing of those resources with users both inside and outside the country.

• Bhutan: Ministry of Agricultureand Forests, with delegationof Treaty administration to theNational Biodiversity Centre

• Burkina Faso: CommissionNationale de Gestion desRessources Phytogénétiques

• Costa Rica: National SeedAgency

• Guatemala: Institute ofAgricultural Science andTechnology

• Nepal: National AgriculturalGenetic Resources Centre,Nepal Agricultural ResearchCouncil

• Rwanda: Rwanda AgricultureBoard (proposed)

• Uganda: Uganda NationalCouncil for Science andTechnology

Out-scaling: supporting mutually supportive implementation of the Treaty and Nagoya Protocol

In collaboration with the secretariats of the Treaty and the CBD, and the ABS Capacity Development Initiative, a series of capacity-building workshops was organized for African and Asia national focal points of the Treaty and Nagoya Protocol that were geared toward mutually supportive implementation of both agreements.

A project in Benin and Madagascar supported by the Darwin Initiative aimed to implement both international agreements in ways that respond to local realities, contributing to development benefits. This was done by empowering local communities and taking advantage of the incentives and benefits in each country available to both the stewards/providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge and the recipients of genetic resources and associated information and technologies. In 2016, both country

Photo: Climate analogue training workshop, Burkina Faso. Credit: Bioversity International/R.Vernooy

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teams developed ministerial decrees to start implementing the Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol in a mutually supportive manner. A large number of stakeholders at the national level benefited from the awareness raising and consultation meetings organized in both countries, complemented by workshops at the community level to introduce both agreements. Both country teams have benefited and learned from the results of the work on Treaty implementation.

Lessons learned

• National policymakers andstakeholders appreciate thevalue of the Treaty/MLS inenhancing their country’scollective capacity to adapt toclimate change by accessingand using materials through theMLS.

• National policymakers andstakeholders also appreciatethe value of the Treaty/MLS

in overcoming systematic obstacles to ex situ and in situ conservation efforts, especially where the MLS is implemented as part of a process of promoting novel forms of cooperation between genebanks, breeders and collective action organizations at the community level (e.g. community seedbanks).

• Policy implementation projectsthat do not include capacitybuilding to help countriestake advantage of the MLS,but instead focus only onestablishing systems for themto supply PGRFA, are less likelyto make progress because theydo not address policymakers’,scientists’, and farmers’ senseof their country’s immediateneeds.

• Policy development andimplementation efforts must beaccompanied by well-funded,

wide-reaching communication campaigns to raise awareness among stakeholders generally and to place indirect (but strategic) pressure on policymakers to take action.

• Most developing countries needto adopt new, or dramaticallyimprove existing, nationalPGRFA information systems tomanage and publish informationabout materials they are makingavailable through the MLS. Theyalso need training in conductingsearches on other organizations’information systems to locatepotentially useful germplasm.

Outputs

A long and rich list of outputs was produced, together with partners from the eight countries, and disseminated at both the global and national levels, in the form of project blogs and web pages, electronic newsletters, books and book chapters, research papers, meeting proceedings,

Photo: The Climentoro seed reserve, Guatemala. Credit: Anna Porcuna Ferrer

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workshop/meeting presentations, literature reviews, tools and technical guidelines, technical and policy briefs, peer-reviewed journal articles, and training materials. Some examples follow.

Halewood, M.; Andrieux, E.; Crisson, L.; Gapusi, J.R.; Wasswa Mulumba, J.; Koffi, E.K.; Yangzome Dorji, T.; Bhatta, M.R.; Balma, D. 2013. Implementing ‘mutually supportive’ access and benefit sharing mechanisms under the Plant Treaty, Convention on Biological Diversity, and Nagoya Protocol. Law, Environment and Development Journal 9(1): 68. http://www.lead-journal.org/content/13068.pdf

López-Noriega I. 2013. Understanding technology needs and technology transfer processes: experiences and lessons learnt from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative 2. Presentation at the ITPGRFA Second Meeting of the Platform for the Co-development and transfer of technologies, Bandung, Indonesia, 30 June-1 July 2013. FAO, Rome.

Otieno, G. 2013. Climate analogues for Rwanda and Uganda: Building capacity to exploit the multilateral system. 30 January 2013. [Online] https://grpi2.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/climate-analogues-rwanda-uganda/

Vernooy, R.; Shrestha, P.; Sthapit, B. (eds). 2015. Community seed banks: origins, evolution and prospects. Issues in Agricultural Biodiversityseries. Earthscan for Routledge, London. 270 p. ISBN: 978-0-415-70806-0. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/68708

Galluzzi, G., Halewood, M., López Noriega, I. and Vernooy, R. 2016. Twenty-five years of international exchanges of plant genetic resources facilitated by the CGIAR genebanks: a case study on international interdependence. Biodiversity and Conservation 25(8): 1421–1446. ISSN: 1572-9710 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75693

Halewood, M. (ed.) 2016. Farmers’ crop varieties and farmers’ rights: challenges in taxonomy and law. Issues in Agrobiodiversity series. Earthscan for Routledge, London. 406 p. ISBN: 9781844078912. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/73252

ILEIA and Bioversity International. 2016. Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources: making it work for family farmers. Farming Matters (special issue). https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/75544/retrieve

Joshi, B.K.; Chaudhary, P.; Upadhya, D.; Vernooy, R. (eds.) 2016. Implementing the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Nepal: Achievements and challenges. Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, Pokhara; Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Ministry of Agricultural Development and Ministry of Agricultural Development, Kathmandu, Bioversity International, Rome. 194 p. ISBN: 978-9937-0-1304-8. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78421

Lapena I, Halewood M, Hunter D. 2016. Mainstreaming agricultural biological diversity across sectors through NBSAPs: Missing links to climate change adaptation, dietary diversity and the Plant Treaty. CCAFS Info Note. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Copenhagen. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78323

Lopez-Noriega, I. and Bedmar, A. 2016. Bioversity International’s contributions to the implementation of Article 6 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Bioversity International, Rome. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/79768

Vernooy, R.; Bessette, G.; Otieno, G. (eds.) (2019) Resilient seed systems: handbook. Second edition. Bioversity International, Rome. 158 p. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/103498. See also http://www.seedsresourcebox.org/

Ghimiray, M. and Vernooy, R. 2017. The importance and challenges of crop germplasm interdependence: the case of Bhutan. Food Security 9(2), p. 301–310. ISSN: 1876-4517. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/80802

Joint Capacity Building Programme 2017. Mutually supportive implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the Plant Treaty: Scenarios for consideration by national focal points and other interested stakeholders. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/96525

Vernooy, R., López Noriega, I., Balma, D., Ouedraogo, M., Koffi, E., Bessette, G. 2017. L’accès aux ressources phytogénétiques pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture au Burkina Faso et en Côte d’Ivoire. Changement climatique et résilience des systèmes agroalimentaires. AGRIDAPE, numéro 33-2, Juin 2017. Online http://iedafrique.org/L-acces-aux-ressources-phytogenetiques-pour-l-alimentation-et-l-agriculture-les.html

Vernooy, R.; Clancy, E. (comps) 2017. No country is self-sufficient when it comes to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture: the cases of Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Nepal, Rwanda and Uganda. Bioversity International, Rome. 8 p. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/89842

Turamwishimiye, M.R. and Gapusi, J.R. 2018. Recommendations on implementation of the multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Rwanda: Background analysis and draft legal text for consideration. Bioversity International, Rome and Rwanda Agriculture Board, Kigali. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/101203

Joint Capacity Building Programme. 2018. Decision-making tool for national implementation of the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system of access

and benefit-sharing. Bioversity International, Rome. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/93396

Vernooy, R.; Bessette, G.; Sthapit, B.; Dibiloane, A.; Lettie Maluleke, N.; Abner Matelele, L.; Mokoena, M.; Phora, G.; Sema, P.; Thabo, T. 2018. How to develop and manage your own community seed bank: Farmers’ handbook. Establishing a community seed bank: Booklet 1 of 3. Bioversity International, Rome. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/92000

Vernooy, R.; Bessette, G.; Sthapit, B.; Gupta, A. 2018. How to develop and manage your own community seed bank Farmers’ handbook. Technical issues: Booklet 2 of 3. Bioversity International, Rome. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/92001

Vernooy, R.; Bessette, G.; Sthapit, B.; Porcuna Ferrer, A. 2018. How to develop and manage your own community seed bank: Farmers’ handbook. Management, networking, policies and a final checklist: Booklet 3 of 3. Bioversity International, Rome. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/92002

For more information, please visit

Bioversity International web site: http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research-portfolio/policies-for-plant-diversity-management/

Genetic Resources Policy blog: https://grpi2.wordpress.com

Correct citation

Vernooy, R. (comp). 2019. Strengthening national capacities to implement the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: Project highlights, Bioversity International, Rome. 6 pp.

ISBN: 978-92-9255-139-1

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