In light of our escalating global population, more than ever it is vital that we find a way of increasing global crop quality and production. And this is where the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) has a huge role to play. ITPGRFA promotes the sustainable use and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from their use.
During a side event organized on the occasion of the 6th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources of FAO on 15 November 2012, Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the Governing Body of ITPGRFA, gave a presentation on the recent progress made on the implementation of the Treaty. Highlights include the development and launch of Easy-SMTA, an online information system that allows users to generate Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTA) for the transfer of seeds and forages; crossing the 500,000 mark in terms of the number of genetic resource accessions transferred to breeding and research programs (1.5 million documented samples in the Treaty’s system come from CGIAR alone); and a more than ten-fold increase in the number of projects financed through the Treaty in 2012.
Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, followed with a presentation on the highlights of the CGIAR reform process, the challenges the organization is facing, and the Strategy and Results Framework Action Plan. (Introduction to his presentation starts at 32:26)
He also talked about the plant accessions held in CGIAR collections, the management of which lies at the heart of the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture work of the Members of the CGIAR Consortium. Although these accessions amount to only 10 percent of global crop genetic resources, the flow of material from CGIAR genebanks is disproportionally high.
“That is not presented so much as an accomplishment but as a problem,” he said. “We would like to see much more material flowing among and between other partners. We are very much interested in working with the Treaty as a system to get back to a situation where people feel confident that it’s in their interest to share, both internationally and among the members.”
Rijsberman concluded by saying the CGIAR reform is already a major institutional achievement: “just in time” for renewed focus on food security as top priority. The members of the CGIAR Consortium (Centers) are growing again (30‐40 percent this year), and the CGIAR Research Programs are beginning to make a difference. Nonetheless, he pointed out that CGIAR has an urgent “last mile” of work left to be done to ensure the reform process really delivers on its promise of delivering impact against its key System-level objectives.
Stephan Weise, Deputy Director General for Research, Bioversity International (a member of the CGIAR Consortium), also addressed the participants by highlighting some of the contributions Bioversity and other CGIAR Consortium members have made to the agenda items being considered at the Meeting.
An update on plant genetic resources activities undertaken in 2011 by Members of the CGIAR Consortium can be found here.
Video credit: ITPGRFA