2 October 2015: The Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS) of Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) established under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) made a series of recommendations to the sixth session of the ITPGRFA Governing Body (GB 6). Proposed tasks for further work include elaboration of a subscription system for user-based payments to the MLS and revision of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).

The Working Group was established by GB 5 in order to develop a range of measures that would increase user-based payments and contributions to the Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund in a sustainable and predictable long-term manner, and enhance the functioning of the MLS by additional measures. The Working Group met four times during the last biennium, in May 2014, December 2014, June 2015 and 2 October 2015, immediately before GB 6.

It concluded with a list of measures to enhance the functioning of the MLS, including: increasing the availability of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture through the MLS; strengthening non-monetary benefit-sharing mechanisms, such as capacity-building, technology transfer and information exchange; developing a subscription model for users of plant genetic resources; revising the SMTA to increase user-based payments and make it more user-friendly; developing other ways to enhance income to the Benefit-sharing Fund in a sustainable and predictable long-term manner; and expanding the ABS provisions of the Treaty. Elaborating the elements for a subscription model for user-based payments and revising the SMTA were recommended as first steps; while a possible amendment of the Treaty or development of a Protocol was proposed as a second step.

GB 6, which opened today at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy, and will meet until 9 October 2015, is expected to address the Working Group’s recommendations and decide on future work. [GB 6 Webpage] [Working Group Report] [IISD RS Coverage of GB 6]