Context:
The ninth session of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) has recently begun in New Delhi.
Relevance:
GS II: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India
Dimensions of the Article:
- What is the Plant Treaty?
- Aims
- Key provisions
What is the Plant Treaty?
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations adopted the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) on November 3, 2001.
- It was drafted in Madrid in 2001 and went into effect on June 29, 2004.
- As the longtime guardians of the world’s food crops, indigenous people and small-holder farmers have made great contributions, and this document is the first legally binding international agreement to do so.
- It also urges governments to safeguard and support people’s rights to preserve and utilise the seeds they have nurtured for millennia.
- After almost three years, the parties to this treaty have gathered to talk about the governance of agricultural biodiversity and global food security.
Theme 2022:
The theme of the meeting is ‘Celebrating the Guardians of Crop Diversity: Towards an Inclusive Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’.
Aims:
- Guaranteeing food security through the conservation
- Exchange and sustainable use of the world’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)
- Fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as
- Recognition of farmers’ rights.
Key provisions:
- The treaty established a Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit sharing among the ratifying nations for a list of 64 of the most significant food and forage crops necessary for interdependence and food security.
- The treaty’s Annex 1 lists the genera and species.
- The treaty facilitates the continued open exchange of food crops and their genetic materials.
- Major food crops and forages are included in the list of plant genetic material covered by the Multilateral System of the Treaty.
- Legume forages and grass forages are other divisions of the forages.
- They were chosen based on standards for food security and interdependence across nations.
-Source: Down to Earth
