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This legally binding International Treaty was adopted by the thirty-first session of the FAO conference on 3 November 2001 and entered into force on 21 June 2004.
The objectives are ‘the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture an food security’.

The Governing Body of the Treaty is required to hold sessions at least every two years and, in June 2006, around 180 delegations from the countries and institutions that are the Contracting Parties that compose the Governing Body, will meet in Madrid to promote the Treaty’s full implementation.

The Treaty recognises and specifies farmers’ rights in relation to the conservation and development of the plant genetic resources that are the basis of food and agriculture throughout the world.

All the Contracting Parties of the Treaty agreed to establish a Multilateral System to facilitate access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and to share in a fair and equitable way the benefits arising from the utilisation of these resources. The Multilateral System established by the Treaty covers the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture listed in Annex I to the Treaty, which are in the management and control of the Contracting Parties and in the public domain, and also those which are held in the ex situ collections of the International Agricultural Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The grain legumes included in this Annex I (with a total of 35 food crops and 29 forages crops ) are: pigeon pea (Cajanus); chickpea (Cicer); grass pea (Lathyrus); lentil (Lens); beans (Phaseolus); pea (Pisum); faba bean/vetch (Vicia); and cowpea (Vigna).

Under the Treaty, the Contracting Parties recognise that facilitated access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture constitutes a major benefit of the Multilateral System and agree that benefits accruing will be shared fairly and equitably. The Contracting Parties have also agreed that benefits will be shared through the exchange of information, access to and transfer of technology, capacity building and the sharing of the benefits arising from commercialisation. The Contracting Parties have also agreed that the Standard Material Transfer Agreement shall contain the provision of Article 13.2d(ii) of the Treaty providing for the sharing of monetary benefits arising from commercialisation.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust has been created as an autonomous foundation to operate within the framework of the Treaty as an essential element of its financial strategy coordinated by the Governing Body.

Source: Álvaro Ramos Monreal, Consejeria de Agricultura Ganadería, Valladolid, Spain. (rammonal@jcyl.es)