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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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WORLD BANK BOWS TO NGO PRESSURE ON CONTROL OVER
GENEBANKS
PANUPS Update: See PANUPS June 24, 1994: NGOs Accuse World
Bank of Attempting to Raid Gene Reserves
July 8, 1994
At a heated closing of the Second Session of the
Intergovernmental Committee on the Convention on Biological
Diversity, held 20 June-1 July in Nairobi, 112 governments
unanimously called for the establishment of intergovernmental
control over the genetic resources held in the genebanks of
the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs),
sponsored by the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The conclusion of the meeting
calls specifically upon the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) to finalize an agreement with the CG
Centres to grant the IARCs trusteeship over the germplasm "as
soon as possible."
This decision was tabled by the Intergovernmental Committee
with the specific aim of halting a World Bank initiative to
seize control of these invaluable seed stocks, which form the
basis of world agriculture. The CG Centres hold over half a
million seed samples in ex-situ storage, representing some
40% of all unique samples held by genebanks worldwide. While
these seeds were collected from farmers throughout the
developing world, their legal status within the IARC
genebanks is unclear. These and all other current ex-situ
collections were left out of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, which sets new rules of equity in access to the
world's genetic resources. Efforts to establish
intergovernmental authority over the CG's valuable
international collections was threatened recently by sudden
interest of the World Bank to scuttle any agreement with FAO
and the Convention on Biological Diversity on access to,
ownership of and benefit sharing from these materials.
The Bank's move was brought to the attention of the
governments in Nairobi by some 40 major environment and
development NGOs, after they had received a letter dated June
16 from Ismail Serageldin, a Vice President of the Bank and
current Chair of the CGIAR, stating that "it would be
foolhardy to lock [the international collections held by the
IARCs] into [such] agreements". He proposed to hold off on
any agreement until at least 1996. This initiative came from
the Bank at the very moment when the individual IARCs were on
the verge of signing the accord on trusteeship and
intergovernmental authority for the collections with FAO.
At the end of the intergovernmental meeting in Nairobi last
Friday (July 1), over 30 countries took the floor to express
their concern on this very matter, which had dominated the
two week session. According to the report of the meeting,
governments "strongly supported the efforts to bring [the
CGIAR's germplasm collections] under the auspices of FAO."
Specifically, "Delegates expressed strong support for
finalizing the agreement between the FAO and the IARCs as
soon as possible." Further neutralizing the World Bank's
intent to keep these collections out of intergovernmental
control, the delegate of Sweden, Mr. Ulf Svensson, requested
the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee for the
Convention to send a letter to Serageldin stating that "Any
attempt to create obstacles for the early conclusion of the
agreement was unacceptable." Given the controversy, Dr.
Geoffrey Hawtin of the International Plant Genetic Resources
Institute (IPGRI), speaking formally on behalf of the CGIAR,
found himself forced to over-turned Serageldin's position
completely. "The international community," he argued, "has
long recognized the need to establish a legal and political
identity for the ex- situ collections managed by the CGIAR by
placing them under the auspices of an intergovernmental
authority." He affirmed that "It is intended that the
agreement will be signed [between the CGIAR and FAO] during
the next few months".
According to Mr. Henk Hobbelink, Director of Genetic
Resources Action International (GRAIN) -- one of the NGOs
present at the meeting -- this is a clear signal that the
World Bank has been forced to back down from its earlier
attempt to wrest control of the international genebank
collections. "On the 16th of June, Serageldin sends NGOs a
letter saying that he doesn't want any agreement with any
intergovernmental body on the ex-situ collections. Then he
sends a vague statement to the governments gathered in
Nairobi saying that he wants to work 'in concert with' the
FAO and the Convention. By the end of that meeting he has a
representative of the CGIAR saying that the Centres will sign
an agreement with FAO within the next few months. We are
convinced that Serageldin must have realized he went too far
and has been forced to back off now. The NGOs working with
governments in Nairobi can take some of the credit for this."
Source: GRAIN Press Release, July 4, 1994
Contact: Henk Hobbelink, GRAIN, Jonqueres 16 6 D, E-08003
Barcelona, Spain; phone (34-3) 310-5909; fax (34-3) 310-5952;
email grain@gn.apc.org.
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The Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS) is a
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