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The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IT PGRFA),〔ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0510e/i0510e.pdf〕 popularly known as the International Seed Treaty, is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims at guaranteeing food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the world's plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), as well as the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use. It also recognises Farmers' Rights, subject to national laws to: a) the protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; b) the right to equitably participate in sharing benefits arising from the utilisation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; and c) the right to participate in making decisions, at the national level, on matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. The Treaty establishes the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing to facilitate plant germplasm exchanges and benefit sharing through Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). However, as Regine Anderson of the farmers' rights project,〔http://www.farmersrights.org/〕 among others, including Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,〔http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20091021_report-ga64_seed-policies-and-the-right-to-food_en.pdf〕 argue, the interpretation and realisation of farmers' rights is weak and is not the same across all countries. Without a consistent, strong international focus on the realising the rights of farmers who conserve and sustainably use PGRFA to save, use, exchange and sell seeds saved on-farm, genetic variety of crops and related agricultural biodiversity will suffer.〔http://www.inwent.org/ez/articles/169196/index.en.shtml〕 India, for example, includes an interpretation of farmers' rights in its Plant Variety Protection and Farmers' Rights Act, allowing farmers a restricted right to save and sell seed they have produced on-farm as they always have, even if it contains genes from a protected variety.,〔http://www.inwent.org/ez/articles/169296/index.en.shtml〕〔http://www.greenconserve.com/pdfs/2009_2010_annual%20report.pdf〕 The treaty has implemented a Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit sharing, among those countries that ratify the treaty, for a list of 64 of some of the most important food and forage crops essential for food security and interdependence. The genera and species are listed in Annex 1 to the treaty. The treaty was negotiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) and since 2006 has its own Governing Body under the aegis of the FAO. The Governing Body is the highest organ of the Treaty as established in Article 19. Composed of representatives of all Contracting Parties, its basic function is to promote the full implementation of the Treaty, including the provision of policy guidance on the implementation of the Treaty. The Governing Body elects its Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons, in conformity with its Rules of Procedure. They are collectively referred to as "the Bureau". Some believe the treaty could be an example of responsible global governance for ensuring that plant genetic resources essential for present and future food security can be kept accessible to all farmers and in the public domain. Chapter 7 of the Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SoWPGR-2)〔http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1500e/i1500e.pdf〕 entitled "Access to Plant Genetic Resources, the sharing of benefits arising out of their utilization and the realization of Farmers’ Rights" is mainly dedicated to the International Treaty. ==Sessions of the Governing Body == * The Governing Body met for the first time in Madrid in June 2006.〔http://www.planttreaty.org/meetings/gb1_en.htm〕 It had a ministerial segment and a ministerial declaration was adopted and included in the Report.〔GB-1/06/REPORT, Report of the First Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/agp/planttreaty/gb1/gb1repe.pdf〕 * The Second Session of the Governing Body was held in Rome in October/November 2007.〔http://www.planttreaty.org/meetings/gb2_en.htm〕 This meeting discussed the implementation of Farmers' Rights, financial rules; the funding strategy, relationship with the Global Crop Diversity Trust; implementation of the Multilateral System (MLS) for access and benefit-sharing, among other issues.〔GB-2/07/REPORT, Report of the Second Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/agp/planttreaty/gb2/gb2repe.pdf〕 * The Third Session of the Governing Body was held in Tunis in June 2009.〔http://www.planttreaty.org/meetings/gb3_en.htm〕 This meeting continued the unfinished business of the previous meeting and discussed, among other issues, funding strategy, compliance, sustainable use, the implementation of Farmers' Rights, relationship with the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the CGRFA, implementation of the Multilateral System (MLS) for access and benefit-sharing.〔GB-3/09/REPORT, Report of the Third Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/agp/planttreaty/gb3/gb3repe.pdf〕 * The Fourth Session of the Governing Body was held in Bali, Indonesia in March 2011.〔http://www.itpgrfa.net/International/content/gb4〕 Prior to the Governing Body meeting, Ministers adopted the Bali Declaration on the Treaty 〔http://www.itpgrfa.net/International/sites/default/files/Ministerial_Declaration_Bali.pdf〕 that commits them to engage in further enhancing Treaty implementation to help meet the challenges of agricultural biodiversity erosion, food insecurity, extreme poverty and the effects of climate change; and calls upon parties and relevant stakeholders to prioritize activities relevant to the MLS, sustainable use of PGRFA, and Farmers’ Rights, and to mobilize more funds. With the addition of 'compliance' mechanisms and financial rules, these issues took up most negotiating time in the Governing Body meeting. The relationship of the Treaty with the CGRFA, the CBD's Nagoya Protocol, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and Biodiversity International were also included in resolutions. * The Fifth Session of the Governing Body was held in Muscat, Oman in September 2013.〔http://www.planttreaty.org/content/gb5〕 The session was preceded by two days of regional consultations. The Fifth Session achieved: • a good resolution on Farmers' Rights (FRs), which renewed the commitment of governments to implement Farmers' Rights ; • a coded call to UPOV and WIPO to report on their impacts on Farmers' Rights ; • warm acceptance of the offer by Farmers' Organisations to produce a report for GB6 on the state of implementation of Farmers' Rights ; • actions designed to improve the sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, linked to commitments to realise Farmers' Rights ; • commitments to review and change the multi-lateral Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism (MLS), to prevent pillaging of the System by patents on native traits, for example ; • significant new voluntary financial contributions from Norway for the Global Crop Diversity Trust and for the benefit sharing fund to support on-farm conservation ; • acceptance of the distinction between NGOs and Farmers' Organisations and the need to include representatives of farmers' social movements in negotiations ; • a request to the Secretary to report on relevant discussions that relate to Farmers' Rights within other UN fora including the Committee on World Food Security. Civil Society including NGOs (e.g. (CENESTA )) and the International Farmers' Movement, La Via Campesina, were active throughout the Session.〔CSO summary of results of GB5 http://www.ukabc.org/gb5.htm〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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