The Working Group tasked with enhancing the functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) has made progress in the difficult negotiations. The Co-Chairs’ new compromise proposal to establish a subscription mechanism with two alternative triggers for mandatory monetary benefit-sharing “seems to have broken a long-lasting impasse,” but “several crucial modalities still need to be ironed out.”
According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the meeting, the two triggers are early payment upon registration, or deferred payment upon commercialization.
The ITPGRFA’s MLS is the world’s first operational Multilateral System of access and benefit-sharing that specifically focuses on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA). Given the crucial role of seed exchanges in supporting sustainable agriculture and global food security, the ongoing talks “aim to stimulate benefit flows while facilitating PGRFA exchanges, protecting farmers’ rights, and adapting to technological developments.”
The Working Group’s 12th meeting, which took place from 16-19 September 2024 in Rome, Italy, “conducted its deliberations on the basis of a package of measures proposed by Co-Chairs Sunil Archak (India) and Michael Ryan (Australia),” the ENB report notes. A draft resolution, a draft revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) with a series of appendices, and a draft text for an amendment of Annex I (the list of crops in the MLS) are all part of this package.
By way of explaining an historic divide between parties, ENB notes that developed countries have traditionally “focused on expanding the list of crops in the Treaty’s Annex I, which defines the scope of the MLS, arguing it will generate more income to the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF).” Developing countries, on the other hand, have “stressed that enhanced income flows need to materialize before they can agree to an expansion.” The Co-Chairs’ compromise proposal may have bridged this divide. According to the ENB analysis of the meeting, it was hailed as “a procedural breakthrough to pave the way towards conclusion of the negotiations.”
The ENB report acknowledges that a number of crucial elements still need to be agreed upon, including the amendment of Annex I and the inclusion of benefit-sharing from use of digital sequence information (DSI)/genetic sequence data (GSD). Given the talks’ November 2025 deadline and only two meetings remaining, the Working Group “agreed to undertake intense intersessional work,” with the aim of “enabl[ing] understanding of technical issues and promot[ing] regional and stakeholder consultations.”
Following intersessional work, the Co-Chairs will table a revised proposal at the Working Group’s 13th meeting, tentatively scheduled for March/April 2025. [ENB Coverage of 12th Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the ITPGRFA Multilateral System]
