Sixty-four crops in one global pool: the treaty on plant genetic resources for food

Background

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is a legally binding treaty that sits with the Food and Agriculture Organization. Its Multilateral System puts 64 of the most important crops into one accessible global pool of genetic resources. Those crops together account for 80 percent of the food people get from plants. Access to the material is for research, breeding and training for food and agriculture, and only parties to the Treaty can take it on that undertaking. A recipient cannot claim intellectual property rights over the resources in the form in which they were received. Anyone who takes material through the Multilateral System agrees to share benefits from its use through four benefit-sharing mechanisms set up by the Treaty. The Treaty recognises farmers' rights, calling for protection of their traditional knowledge, a greater say for them in national processes and a share in the benefits. A voluntary International Undertaking came first, followed by the Global Plan of Action at Leipzig, and then the binding Treaty was adopted; it entered into force on 29 June 2004.