Highlights for Saturday, 17 October 2009

On Saturday, 17 October 2009, in the prelude to the twelfth regular session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA-12), an information seminar was held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy. The event, titled “Policy Arrangements for Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,” offered delegates and observers, along with experts, the opportunity to discuss one of CGRFA-12’s agenda items, ABS for GRFA.

Participants addressed the status and challenges of ABS, with presentations on the status of the negotiations on the International Regime on ABS, food security and ABS, recent developments in intellectual property law and policies, and the impact of climate change on genetic resources for food and agriculture. There was also a panel discussion on the use and exchange of genetic resources for food and agriculture, which includes the domains of plant, animal, forest and microbial genetic resources and biological control agents. After brief statements by relevant experts, a lively discussion followed on the many issues raised. The event came to a close with a sense of anticipation on how the discussions would feed into CGRFA-12, with one delegate expressing satisfaction over the relevance and importance of the seminar for informing the upcoming Commission session. Chaired and facilitated by Bert Visser (the Netherlands), Commission Chair, the event was well-attended by delegates and observers to CGRFA-12, and showed the broad range of interest in ABS and the issues it seeks to address, including food security and biodiversity conservation.

View of the information seminar in session.