August 2016: The Secretariat of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) has released the reports of recent meetings of its Intergovernmental Technical Working Groups (ITWGs) on the Commission’s work in different subsectors of genetic resources for food and agriculture. The reports cover the Fourth Session of the ITWG on Forest Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-FGR), the Eighth Session of the ITWG on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-PGR), and the Ninth Session of the ITWG on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-AnGR).

Each ITWG considered the implementation of the CGRFA Global System for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in its respective agricultural sector, including Global Plans of Action (GPAs) and State of the World’s Genetic Resources Reports (SoWs). The three groups also continued work to support the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in each of the agricultural sectors, including the development of sub-sector specific elements for ABS and elements to facilitate domestic ABS implementation. The ITWGs made recommendations on these and other issues for consideration at the sixteenth meeting of the CGRFA to be held in January 2017.

The ITWG-FGR considered: follow-up to the GPA for the Conservation and Sustainable Use and Development of FGR; ABS for FGR; and the Commission’s Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPOW). On GPA-FGR follow-up, the Group recommended that CGRFA, among other actions: adopt a revised list of targets and indicators for FGR to monitor GPA-FGR implementation and continue work on the “verifiers” for the suggested indicators; and develop voluntary guidelines for preparing national strategies and action plans for FGR conservation and sustainable use.

The ITWG-PGR considered: implementation and monitoring of the Second GPA-PGR; preparation of the third SoW-PGR; ABS for PGR; MYPOW; reports from international organizations and instruments; and evaluation of the contribution of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to the conservation and sustainable use of PGR.

With regard to GPA-PGR implementation, the ITWG-PGR recommended that the CGRFA, among other issues: simplify the reporting system for the assessment of GPA-PGR implementation; request FAO to continue strengthening national and regional PGR conservation networks; and expand the draft guidelines on national conservation and use of landraces and crop wild relatives by adding information on capacity building. On the preparation of the third SoW-PGR, the Group recommended expanding the deadline for submission of country reports to 2020 and endorsing a revised timeline providing for the SoW’s publication in 2023. On ABS, the ITWG-PGR’s recommendations focused on closer collaboration and coordination between the CGRFA and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR) and their respective Secretariats.

The ITWG-AnGR considered: implementation and update of the GPA-AnGR; review of the Funding Strategy for GPA-AnGR implementation; ABS for AnGR; and MYPOW. On GPA-AnGR implementation, the Group stressed the challenges of collecting animal breed population data, and made several recommendations regarding the strengthening and use of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) to assist countries in overcoming these challenges. Other recommendations addressed the contributions to ecosystem services by livestock species and breeds, and the review and possible update of the GPA-AnGR.

The ITWG are the main mechanism for intersessional work under the CGRFA. The Groups have a mandate to review the situation and issues related to genetic resources for food and agriculture in their respective sectors and to make recommendations to the Commission. To date, the CGRFA has established four ITWG: the three ITWG discussed above and the ITWG on Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which met for the first time in June 2016 and for which the meeting report is pending. The meetings were held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, between May and July 2016. [Report of the Fourth Session of the ITWG-FGR] [Report of the Eighth Session of the ITWG-PGR] [Report of the Ninth Session of the ITWG-AnGR] [CGRFA Website] [CGRFA Sectoral Working Groups] [IISD-RS Reporting on CGRFA meetings and publications]