Convening shortly after the resumed 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 16), the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) discussed several CBD decisions relevant to its work, such as on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) of genetic resources, including those derived from digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources for food and agriculture.
“Many welcomed the agreement reached to recognize the role of farmers, including smallholder farmers, fishers, including smallscale fishers, pastoralists, foresters, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) as custodians of [genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA)],” the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report notes. According to the ENB analysis of the meeting, the Commission’s work in this regard will continue to be intertwined with developments in other fora, including the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which is expected to reach agreement on reforming its Multilateral System (MLS) in the coming months, and the CBD, which will convene the first meeting of its newly established Subsidiary Body on Article 8(j) on matters related to IPLCs in October 2025.
Delegates also reviewed progress on “Commission staples” – plant, animal, aquatic, and forest GRFA. Substantive discussions on microorganism and invertebrate genetic resources (MIGR) addressed fermentation, edible fungi, and microorganisms relevant to ruminant digestion, among other topics.
The Commission launched flagship ‘State of the World’ (SOW) reports on plant genetic resources and forest genetic resources, approved the implementation and review of Global Plans of Action (GPAs) covering the core programme areas, and agreed to:
- Advance the preparation of the second global report on biodiversity for food and agriculture, the second global report on aquatic genetic resources, and the third global report on animal genetic resources;
- Convene a multi-stakeholder workshop to explore the implications of CBD Decision 16/2 that established modalities of the Multilateral Mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of DSI;
- Start a rollout of two new global information platforms on GRFA – AquaGRIS and SilvaGRIS, calling on countries to create national registries as part of their progress reporting;
- Take steps toward establishing a global pollinator platform; and
- Explore the possibility of developing a “Red List” of threatened plant genetic resources.
“Thematic discussions also revealed difficulties in collecting and managing high quality data and ensuring interoperability at country, regional, and global levels,” ENB writes. The Commission heard concerns over low response rates to surveys and over data variability due to weak research and technical capacities, prompting lengthy interventions on the need to “strengthen capacity-building efforts, and generate sufficient resources for countries to build up their genebanks and other requisite infrastructure.”
The CGRFA’s 20th session convened in Rome, Italy, from 24-28 March 2025. The CGRFA is the only permanent intergovernmental body that specifically deals with all components of biodiversity for food and agriculture, including plants, animals, aquatic resources, forests, micro-organisms, and invertebrates. [ENB Coverage of CGRFA 20]