Summary
Delegates to the eighth session of the Governing Body (GB 8) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA or Treaty) met in a morning and evening plenary to hear a report from the closed group on enhancing the Multilateral System (MLS), address administrative matters, and review draft resolutions. The contact group on conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) met in the afternoon. The closed group on the MLS and the budget committee met throughout the day and into the night.In the morning, Kathryn Youel Page (US) and Renata Negrelly Nogueira (Brazil), Co-Chairs of the closed group on enhancing the MLS, announced they would circulate a Co-Chairs’ draft of the revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) text by 2:00 pm, for consideration by the group in the afternoon. The proposal included a reference to digital sequence information with regard to benefit-sharing obligations, reading that the user of MLS material “may have used” passport data and other non-confidential descriptive information, including genetic sequence data. Plenary endorsed renewal of the term of Secretary Kent Nnadozie for two years and approved draft resolutions on farmers’ rights and the contribution of FAO to the implementation of the Treaty, without discussion. Delegates also addressed draft resolutions on, among other issues:
- policy guidance to the Global Crop Diversity Trust;
- cooperation with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including advice to the Global Environment Facility (GEF);
- cooperation with other international bodies and organizations, including the the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV);
- the Global Information System;
- conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA;
- compliance; and
- the Treaty’s 15th anniversary.
Deliberations continued into the night on procedures for the appointment and renewal of the Secretary.For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) meeting coverage, is providing daily web coverage and daily reports from the 8th Session of the Governing Body. In addition, IISD Reporting Services published a summary and analysis report from the meeting, which is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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