Introduction

The objectives of the IT-PGRFA are “the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security.” (Article 1)

The Treaty can thus be seen as an independent, legally binding agreement that is consistent with the CBD, and that deals specifically with agricultural uses of plant genetic resources. The Treaty was concluded in 2001, and came into force on 29 June 2004, ninety days after 40 governments had ratified it. It’s impact cannot yet be assessed since the Contracting Parties came together for the first time only in June 2006. That first session of the Governing Body focused on details of the legal issues left unresolved in the Treaty text, as well as operational mechanisms for the implementation of the Treaty.

The IT-PGRFA introduces a number of novelties: i) it defines Farmers’ Rights (Art. 9); ii) it establishes a Multilateral System for Access and Benefit Sharing (Articles 10-13) and iii) it incorporates into that framework several existing mechanisms for conservation and sustainable use (Articles 14-17), including the Global Plan of Action, the ex situ collections held by the IARCs, the International PGR Networks and the Global Information System on PGRFA, and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The IT-PGRFA is an international agreement developed and concluded under the auspices of the FAO. Here we concentrate specifically on the Multilateral System – Farmers’ Rights will be dealt with in Part 2-2 ("Farmers").