Highlights for Monday, 17 June 2019
Hans Hoogeveen, Working Group Co-Chair, with Kent Nnadozie, ITPGRFA Secretary
On Monday, the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) addressed organizational matters, heard reports, and exchanged views on a package of measures to attain the enhanced MLS, proposed by Co-Chairs Javad Mozafari (Iran) and Hans Hoogeveen (the Netherlands). In the afternoon, participants initiated negotiations on the draft revised Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).In the morning, the Working Group discussed:
a report on the outcomes of the eleventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on the Funding Strategy and Resource Mobilization, including targets of the Funding Strategy and the Benefit-sharing Fund; and
a report on sales within the global seed sector, including companies' profile, and an analysis of sales and profitability by company and crop type.
In the afternoon, the Working Group addressed a proposal by the Co-Chairs, containing a package of measures to simultaneously adopt the revised SMTA and the amendment of Annex 1 of the Treaty (list of crops in the MLS) through a resolution providing for:
entry into force of the revised SMTA in January 2020;
application of the subscription system to current Annex 1 until entry into force of its amendment following ratification by two-thirds of the parties;
application of the subscription system to the amended Annex 1 after entry into force of the amendment; and
an inbuilt review for the enhancement of the MLS, including a Governing Body decision on next steps if there are not enough ratifications by January 2025.
A revised Co-Chairs' proposal will be presented on Tuesday.The Working Group then initiated negotiations on the Co-Chairs' proposed draft revised SMTA (IT/OWG-EFMLS-9/19/4 Add.1), starting from Annex 3 on terms and conditions of the subscription system.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from OWG-EFMLS-9, which is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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View of the dais during the opening session
Alwin Kopse, Europe
Jonathan Shoham, Agribusiness Intelligence
Javad Mozafari, Working Group Co-Chair
Manrique Lucio Altavista, Latin America and the Caribbean
Kim van Seeters, Europe
Pierre du Plessis, Africa
José Valls, Latin America and the Caribbean
From L-R: Tobias Kiene, Kent Nnadozie, and Álvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat
Guy Kastler, Farmers Organization
Michael Halewood, CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR Consortium)
Mariem Omrani, Europe
Delegates from Africa conferring during the lunch break
Imke Thormann, Europe
Flavia Scafetti, CGIAR Consortium
