Banking for the future: - Third World Network

5Community seed bank in India. Photo: Green Foundationyield increase. Besides, modern varieties are genetically distinctfrom each other, uniform and stable (i.e. they fulfil the so calledDUS criteria of formal breeding: distinct, uniform and stable).Chapter II: Linking community seedbanks and Farmers’ RightsRegine Andersen 5 and Tone Winge 6Basically, realising Farmers’ Rights means enabling farmersto maintain and develop their crop genetic resources as theyhave done since the dawn of agriculture and recognising andrewarding them for this indispensable contribution to theglobal pool of genetic resources. The realisation of Farmers’Rights is a precondition for the maintenance of crop geneticdiversity, which is the basis of all food and agriculturalproduction in the world. Since farmers are the custodians anddevelopers of crop genetic resources in the field, their rights inthis regard are crucial for enabling them to continue this role.For this reason, Farmers’ Rights constitute a cornerstone inthe International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Foodand Agriculture, or the Plant Treaty. This treaty aims at theconservation and sustainable use of crop genetic resources,5 Dr. Regine Andersen is senior research fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute anddirector of the Farmers’ Rights Project (www.farmersrights.org).6 Tone Winge is research fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, working for theFarmers’ Rights Project.their accessibility, and the sharing of benefits arising fromtheir use.Parties to the Plant Treaty recognise the enormouscontributions that farmers have made, and will continue tomake, in conserving and developing plant genetic diversity,and in making this diversity available. According to the PlantTreaty, the responsibility for realising Farmers’ Rights restswith the national governments. The governments are free tochoose measures according to their own needs and priorities.Measures suggested in the Plant Treaty include protectingand promoting traditional knowledge relevant to cropgenetic resources, enabling farmers to participate equitablyin the sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of suchresources, as well as in national decision making on relatedmatters. Furthermore, the treaty addresses the rights thatfarmers have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seedand propagating material. We will have a closer look at thesecomponents of Farmers’ Rights.Components of Farmers’ RightsProtecting traditional knowledge first and foremost meanstaking measures to halt this knowledge from disappearing.This can be done by collecting and documenting theremaining knowledge, sharing it to ensure continued use,teaching it to the younger generations, and encouraging itsuse. In some countries, stakeholders are concerned aboutprotecting traditional knowledge from misappropriation.There are several examples of how this can be done while atthe same time ensuring that the knowledge can be shared, forexample in the form of catalogues.