Financing the Conservation of Crop Genetic Resources

Abstract

Due to the interdependencies among countries regarding the heritage of crop genetic resources (FAO, 1998), a multilateral agreement seems to be the most cost efficient way for the sustainable conservation and utilization of crop genetic diversity. The “Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture” (GPA), adopted by 150 governments at the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources in June 1996 (FAO, 1996a), is accepted as an internationally agreed framework for the conservation, exploration, collection, characterization, evaluation and documentation of crop genetic resources (FAO, 2001). The contracting parties in the “International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture” (ITPGR) recognize in Article 13.5 that the “... ability to fully implement the Global Plan of Action ... will depend largely upon the effective implementation of...” the system of benefit sharing as it was agreed upon in the multilateral system, and it further depends on the implementation of the funding strategy as provided in Article 18 of the ITPGR. But how can a multi-lateral agreement finance the conservation taking place in over 130 countries without degrading to an administrative, loss-incurring Moloch?