January 2013: Edited by Isabel López Noriega, Michael Halewood and Isabel Lapeña, Bioversity International has published a volume that includes four case studies highlighting the incentives, disincentives, opportunities and constraints for Kenya, Morocco, Peru and the Philippines in the implementation of the Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) established under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), as well as the measures that could be adopted at the national level to advance the Treaty’s implementation.

The volume describes in detail the four countries’ particular experiences with Treaty implementation, further illustrating common challenges faced by many parties to the Treaty. The case studies show that the most important incentives for countries to actively participate in the MLS can be limited by policy and technical constraints, which sometimes hinder supportive actions by national authorities. They demonstrate that users of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) are generally convinced about the benefits of a multilateral system in supporting agricultural research and development programs. At the same time, policy makers’ lack of awareness about their own countries’ needs for PGRFA and lingering uncertainties about ABS regulation discourages active implementation of the MLS. The studies also highlight other constraints to active participation, such as weak information systems and the limited capacity of national breeding programs to use the diversity of materials that are available through the MLS. According to the experience of these four countries, the success of the MLS requires supportive and determined actions at the policy level, effective awareness raising and capacity-building activities and the adoption of appropriate supporting technologies.

The studies included in the volume were part of an activity entitled “Analysis of the Elements, Functions and Promotion of an Integrated Global System,” which fell under the second phase of the World Bank-funded project “Collective Action for the Rehabilitation of Global Public Goods in the CGIAR Genetic Resources System.” The national partners in Kenya, Morocco, Peru and the Philippines undertook the country case studies over a period of approximately one year from 2009 to 2010. Preliminary results were presented and discussed in national stakeholder workshops. The revised papers were presented during the workshop on national programs and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centers’ cooperation to implement the MLS of the ITPGR, held in February 2010. [Publication: The multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing: Case studies on implementation in Kenya, Morocco, Philippines and Peru]