Historical Overview

Concerns about genetic resources are a fairly recent phenomenon. Even though control over tropical estate crops created regular quarrels among colonial powers, the value of genetic diversity within crops became apparent only after the start of scientific plant breeding in the early 20th century, followed by the large scale explorations and the establishment of the concept of ‘centres of origin’ by Vavilov. Concerns about genetic erosion at the global level developed only after the widespread adoption of new and uniform varieties of crops during the Green Revolution. The policy debate on genetic resources culminated in 1985 in the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, a legally non-binding statement of policy, which formally declared that genetic resources are a heritage of mankind that should be shared freely.

However, the recognition that genetic resources may have a significant commercial value in industry triggered the establishment of the legally binding Convention on Biological Diversity which came into force in 1993 following adoption of the Convention at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as part of a comprehensive strategy for "sustainable development" -- meeting our needs while ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations. The Convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. Since then countries have assumed responsibility for and sovereignty over the genetic resources (that originate) within their boundaries. They are responsible for supporting conservation, they are bound to stimulate the sustainable use of genetic resources, and they may regulate access to these resources. Many years passed, however, before any country had enacted legislation enacting the CBD, and many countries are still struggling to develop such national laws or to implement them effectively. Therefore, there remain many unresolved policy issues.

The recognition that agricultural use of genetic resources differs from their use by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and that the rules of the CBD cannot easily be made applicable to the vast number of exchanges and the complex uses of the germplasm in breeding programmes, the International Treaty was concluded in 2001. Several years later, also the CBD started a process to develop a global regime for access and benefit sharing.