Suitable seeds for food security in fragile states

With changing climates the growing world population is increasingly dependent on suitable seeds maintain food security. Agriculture depends on access to a diversity of seeds to enable the development of crop varieties that respond to environmental challenges; pests, diseases, and the effects of climate change. Seeds are increasingly regulated in national legislation that is shaped by interests at international and regional levels. We have examined how these evolving legal and institutional frameworks affect the conservation of and access to suitable seeds in fragile states and states particularly affected by climate change. This involves studying how domestic legal and institutional frameworks affect the relationship between formal and informal seed collections (gene banks) nationally and internationally. Next we focus on interaction between domestic seed legislation and the regulatory space that is left by international obligations and frameworks. Seed governance is subject to intense international debates and regulations, in particular aspects of access and intellectual property rights. We examine recent and understudied developments in these international regulatory frameworks. Third, we analyse the role of seed banks in conserving and making seed diversity available. Seed banks bridge local, national and international regulations and interests, but has received little academic attention. Through case studies (Armenia, India, Nepal, Syria, Svalbard) we have explored how seed banks relate to the interacting regulations, and how this affects their role in providing suitable seeds. A central legal study examines prospects and obstacles for the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) of the FAO Plant Treaty (ITPGRFA) to work as a contract and establish legally binding and enforceable obligations on seed users. The SMTA is presented as a contract but is not enforceable. To establish legally binding obligations on users of the material from the MLS, the text of the SMTA would need to be revised to become enforceable as a contract. The case study from Nepal points to problematic aspects of the conceptualisation and legal protection of farmers varieties as intellectual property. Problematic aspects range from whether farmers have technical and financial resources to register their varieties for intellectual property protection, to the implications that participatory plant breeding programmes may have for arrangements of intellectual property ownership and benefit sharing between farmers and non-farmer entities, including external interests. Here we explore the nature of access and benefit sharing obligations of the owners of newly bred farmers varieties in cases where they use other farmers traditionally grown varieties as breeding materials/source germplasm. The case study of seed legislation in India looks at effects of how the three major seed corporations now control about half of the value of the international market in seeds. Their control is substantiated by gene technology which affects the possibility to patent suitable seeds. Privatization reduces circulation and conservation of seeds among farmers through hybrids and IPR. These trends reduce the will of the government to submit seeds to the international multilateral seeds system (FAO Plant Treaty). It is reflected in Indias ABS legislation, of which India has been and remain an advocate, and in plant breeders rights, which India introduces as part of their WTO/TRIPS obligations. This could reduce the number of seeds defined as part of the public domain, and hence withdraw these from the FAO multilateral seeds system. While patents undermine the trust in the international system, the authorities need to introduce stronger patent systems to attract external technology and investments. Indian authorities must cope with a very complex system of international regulations and obligations: it is still early to judge the effects, but this is likely to reduce trust in access to suitable seeds. The study of saving the seeds from Syria through the Svalbard Genebank points to the importance of trust in the international seeds system. Armenia is a hotspot for a diversity of seeds and long traditions for seeds development and exchange among farmers. This diversity is threatened. The network between Soviet countries genebanks collapsed with the Soviet Union. Since then large foreign seed corporations have moved in. Today exchange of traditional food plant varieties is banned and Armenian food production is paradoxically dominated by foreign seed genetic material.

The Nepal study shows how intellectual property rights may present hurdles to benefit sharing between farmers and non-farmer entities, for traditionally grown farmers varieties. The Indian study looked at effects of three major seed corporations controlling about half the value of the international seeds market. This reduces circulation and conservation of seeds among farmers through hybrids and IPR, which could reduce the number of seeds defined as part of the public domain and the FAO multilateral seeds system. The study of saving the seeds from Syria through the Svalbard Genebank points to the importance of trust in the international seeds system. Armenia is a hotspot for a diversity of seeds and long traditions for seeds development and exchange among farmers. This diversity is currently threatened as large foreign seed corporations have moved in. Today exchange of traditional food plant varieties is banned.

The growing world population increasingly depends on suitable seeds for food security. Agriculture depends on access to a diversity of plant genetic resources to enable the development of crop varieties that respond to environmental challenges, such as pests and diseases and the effects of climate change. The resulting suitable seeds are required to maintain high yields and crop quality. Seeds are increasingly regulated in national legislation driven and shaped by interests at the international and regional levels. We ask how these evolving legal and institutional frameworks affect the conservation of and access to suitable seeds in fragile states and states affected by climate change. First, this involves studying how domestic legal and institutional frameworks affect the relationship between formal and informal seed systems, including gender perspectives. Second, seed governance is subject to intense and ongoing international debates and regulations. Studying domestic seed legislation necessitates a clear understanding of the international obligations and the regulatory discretion left by these legal frameworks. We examine recent developments in these international regulatory frameworks that have not been subject to prior research. Third, seed banks play a core role for conserving and making plant genetic diversity available. Seed banks bridge local, national and international regulations and interests, but has received little academic attention. Our project explores how seed banks relate to the interacting regulations, and how this affects their role in providing suitable seeds. Together, these three clusters of research questions will provide a better understanding of evolving national implementation, the limits and discretion set in international law, and the role of the gene banks, aiming at being useful for all major stakeholders.