Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing
under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture
Muhamad Sabran
Special lecture at Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Tokyo, 16 February 2016
Introduction to the TREATY
What is the ITPGRFA?
An international legally binding instrument aimed at
 conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic
resources for food and agriculture
 establishing a multilateral system to provide
farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access
to plant genetic materials;
 the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of
their use
 recognizing farmers' contribution to the diversity
of crops;
• In harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity
The scope of the Treaty is all plant genetic resources for
food and agriculture
J. T. Esquinas
J.T.Esquinas
J. T. Esquinas
J. T. Esquinas
Nagoya protocols
adopted (2010)
Enter into force
2015
Long negotiation
International
undertaking (IU) on
PGR
 CGRFA to monitor
the IU
Resolution
4/89:breeder’s right
Resolution
5/89:farmers’ right
Resolution
3/91:sovereign right
CBD adopted (1992)
Enter into force
(1993)
PIC dan MAT
Ex-situ dan farmers’
right
FAO conf (1993) :
IU--ITPGRFA
ITPGRFA
negotiation
ITPGRFA
adopted
(2001);
Enter into
force (2004)
Multilateral system
Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing
● “In the exercise of their sovereign rights, the
Contracting Parties agree to establish a
multilateral system.....”
● a common, shared pool of plant genetic
resources
● access for all users, under standard conditions
● limited to list of 64 crops and forages
● provisions on monetary and non-monetary
benefit-sharing
● monetary benefit-sharing to FAO account
Multilateral system of ABS
CP’s
Product
>600 tranfer/day;
SMTA3
Global gene
SMTA2
pool
Monetary benefit
Call for
proposal
R2
GB
Non-monetary
benefit
SMTA1
others
CP’s
Int’l org
Natural or legal
person
Int’l
foundation
Benefit Sharing Fund
R1
P1
private
Transparent selection
processes;
High impact project
Technology transfer;
information exchange;
capacity building
Global
impact
others
MLS: Daily Transfers of PGRFA
•
•
•
1.7 million documented
samples in the System, from
CGIAR alone
600 – 800 documented
transfers every day
information technology tools
for managing System
operations - Easy-SMTA
Japan submits almost 18,000 crops and forages into the
Multilateral System
The Treaty publishes online
information on other material
included in the MLS and on
how to get access to it for plant
breeders worldwide.
Plant breeders in Japan benefit
from this facilitated access.
The Global Information System
(GLIS) will add value to it
10
PGR exchange for food security
•
>1,7 million included accessions documented
•
47.000 SMTA transferred since 2007
•
More than 3,2 million accessions transferred
PGRFA received by Region
Africa
Asia
596,340
1,033,024
Europe
465,742
Latin America and the
Caribbean
379,141
Near East
537,795
North America
153,458
Southwest Pacific
153,548
Japan has received more than 15.000 accessions from the MLS,
mainly Rice (11.000 accessions), but also wheat, sorghum,
brassica, maize.. with almost 500 SMTAs
Top crops exchanged crops in the MLS
Wheat
Rice
Barley
Maize
Chickpea
Lentil
Faba Bean/Vetch
Triticale
Brassica complex
1,579,838
550,579
271,506
197,849
163,907
76,437
37,289
32,414
28,252
Standard Material Transfer agreement
• Access to genetic material made available by
Contracting Parties (and Article 15 Institutions such as
the CGIAR system) is facilitated through the SMTA.
• Recipients agree to freely share any new developments
for further research. Otherwise, they agree to pay a
share of the income they derive from their research
into a benefit sharing fund to support conservation and
further development of agriculture in the developing
countries.
• Benefits are also non-monetary such as exchange of
information, technology transfer and capacity building
The Standard MTA
•All available passport data and, subject to applicable
law, any other associated non-confidential descriptive
information, shall be made available with the Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture provided
•The Recipient shall make available to the Multilateral
System, through the information system provided for in
Article 17 of the Treaty, all non-confidential information
that results from research and development carried out
on the Material
Current levels of payment in the SMTA
Art.
6.7
Nature
Mandatory
payment
6.8
Voluntary
payment
Trigger
Products
that are not
available
without
restriction
Products
that are
available
without
restriction
for further
research and
breeding
Level
1.1% annually of the
sale of Products,
less 30%
Unspecified
%
annually of the sale
of Products derived
from SMTA
6.11 “Subscription Total
annual
sales
of
”
products of the
crop or crops
subscribed to
0.5% annually of the sale
of all products of the
crop
or
crops
“subscribed” to, whether
or not derived from
SMTA material, effective
on signature