WORLD PLANT COLLECTION PLACED UNDER INTERGOVERNMENTAL AUSPICES

Washington/Rome, October 26. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) today signed agreements to place the international plant genetic resources collections housed in 12 CGIAR Centers under the auspices of the Rome-base United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The move gives legal weight to the CGIAR's commitment to hold the collections in trust for the international community. The agreements were signed by CGIAR Chairman Ismail Serageldin on behalf of the international research Centers of the CGIAR, and by Mohamed S. Zehni, Director of the FAO Research and Technology Development Division, on behalf of FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. The arrangement has received strong support from parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the international legal instrument governing the conservation and use of biological resources and signed by more than 150 countries at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio.

The CGIAR is an association of 43 public and private sector donors jointly supporting 17 international agricultural research Centers mostly located in developing countries. The CGIAR is co-sponsored by the FAO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank. Research at CGIAR Centers covers crops that provide 75% of food energy and protein requirements for developing countries. To support this research, 12 of the 17 Centers have assembled over 500,000 different samples of major food, forage and forest species in genebanks, constituting the world's largest internationally held collection of genetic resources. For the past 25 years, these genetic resources have supported the development of higher-yielding, more stable, pest and disease resistant varieties of staple foods consumed in the developing world.

The agreements were signed at International Centers' Week, the CGIAR's annual meeting that brings together 350 administrators, donors, policymakers and scientists concerned with sustainable agriculture.

Speaking on behalf of the Director General, Mohamed Zehni said "FAO welcomes the the conclusion of these agreements, an important step in the realization of the FAO Global System on Plant Genetic Resources, which comes under the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources. The signature of the agreements today marks the culmination of years of work to bring the important collections of the CGIAR under the auspices of the FAO Global System and its Network of Base Collections and it contributes to the implementation of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. It demonstrates the CGIAR's continued commitment to work with FAO in our task of ensuring food security for millions of people in the developing world."

Mr Timothy Rothermel, UNDP's Director of the Division of Science, Technology and the Private Sector, said "As part of UNDP's support to the Agenda 21 priorities that emerged from the UNCED Conference in Brazil, we aim to strengthen national capacities. This action by the CGIAR Centers will help to develop national capacity to conserve and manage genetic resources in many countries. UNDP is delighted to be partners with FAO and the World Bank as fellow co-sponsors of the CGIAR at this milestone in international cooperation in the field of genetic resources conservation as an essential element of sustainable human development."

After signing the agreements, the CGIAR Chairman, Ismail Serageldin said "I welcome these agreements that make the CGIAR's Centers the founding members of the FAO network. This unparalleled international effort to conserve the world's precious genetic resources has benefited greatly from generous donations by many countries. These genetic resources will be invaluable in the application of science for the benefit of the world's poor. The CGIAR stands ready to work with all parties towards the urgent task of preserving genetic resources for the benefit of all humanity and for future generations."

The CGIAR Centers have assembled sizeable germplasm collections of their respective mandate crops, through an active collaborative collecting program and donations by national research institutes. The Centers act as custodians for the countries which have donated germplasm for the benefit of the global community.

During the 1980s, issues of intellectual property rights, ownership and compensation for the use of germplasm began to receive greater attention in intergovernmental fora, where concern was expressed over the legal status of the collections held by the CGIAR Centers.

In 1987, an International Network of Ex Situ Base Collections was established under the auspices of FAO. The historic agreement signed today brings these collections into the International Network and allows the Centers to become the formal trustees of the germplasm maintained in their genebanks, thus ensuring the protection of this critical component of the Earth's irreplaceable plant heritage.

For further information, contact:

Ruth Raymond						Heinrich von Loesc

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute		CGIAR Secretariat

Via delle Sette Chiese 142				1818 H St. NW

00145 Rome, Italy					Room J4031
Tel: 39 6 518 92215					Washington, D.C. 20433

Fax: 39 6 575 0086					Tel: (202) 473-8913

Email: R.RAYMOND@CGNET.COM				Fax: (202) 473-8110

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