Events

The Sixth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will be held in Rome, Italy, from 5 to 9 October 2015.

Representatives of a number of CGIAR Centers and the CGIAR Consortium will attend the 6th Session of the Governing Body.

Eleven CGIAR Centers signed agreements with the Governing Body in 2006 placing their ex situ collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture under the Treaty's framework.

Since January 2007, CGIAR Centers have transferred 2,682,300 samples to recipients in 158 countries using the Treaty's Standard Material Transfer Agreement. This represents approximately 94% of all materials transferred globally under the Treaty's Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing.

The CGIAR Centers also engage in a number of activities to develop and exchange information, transfer technologies, and strengthen the capacities of research partners and beneficiaries related to the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, with the particular objective of improving food security and livelihoods of the rural and urban poor.

Bioversity International policy work supports participatory research with national partners to investigate options to implement the Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Much of this work is conducted in the context of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS is particularly interested in how countries use the Treaty to access crop diversity that can be used to adapt to climate change.

Bioversity International and CGIAR at the Sixth Session of the Governing Body

Monday 5 October
Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, will be one of the high-level speakers at the Opening Session
Time: 13:00
Special Event on the Global Information System: challenges and opportunities
Organized by the Treaty Secretariat
Keynote speaker: Dr Robert Zeigler, Director General of IRRI

Tuesday 6 October
Time: 13:15-14:30
Side event: Mutually supportive implementation of the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol
Organized by Bioversity International/CCAFS, ABS Capacity Development Initiative, Secretariat of the ITPGRFA and Secretariat of the CBD

Wednesday 7 October
Time: 13:15-14:30
Side event: Where our Food Crops Come from: A new estimation of countries' interdependence in plant genetic resources
Organized by CIAT and the Global Crop Diversity Trust in collaboration with other partners

Wednesday 7 October
Time: 18:15-19:30
Side event: CGIAR Centers’ experiences implementing their Article 15 agreements with the Governing Body of the Treaty
Organized by CGIAR

Thursday 8 October
Time: 18:15-19:30
Side event: Strengthening the in situ conservation of PGRFA, including crop wild relatives in Protected Area Network
Organized by Bioversity International and the CBD Secretariat