Managing access to genetic resources in regional genebanks Questions arising from Experiences on Utilisation of PGRFA

Transcription

1 Managing access to genetic resources in regional genebanks Questions arising from Experiences on Utilisation of PGRFA International Treaty and Nagoya Protocol Expert Workshop Supporting mutual supportiveness in the implementation of both instruments at the national level. Rome, st January 2013 By Valerie S. Tuia, Acting Coordinator Genetic Resources Team

2 Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Headquarter in New Caledonia, established in 1947 Vision: to help Pacific Island people achieve sustainable development. Biligual (English & French) Technical international organisation (public health, geoscience, agriculture, forestry, water resources, disaster management, fisheries, education (community, quality and standards for all school levels), statistics, transport, energy, ICT, media, human rights, gender, youth and culture) 9 technical divisions Genetic Resources team under the Agriculture -Land Resources Division (LRD) based in Suva Fiji Work with Forestry and Trees team also under LRD, Suva, Fiji

3 SPC member countries The Pacific Community has 26 members. 22 Pacific Island countries and territories - American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna 4 founding countries - Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States of America

4 Genetic Resources SUPPORTING ROLE Working to assist agricultural and forestry development in the Pacific region (22 member countries) through the sustainable conservation and effective use of plant genetic resources - reduces poverty, - improves food and nutritional security and - assists in the protection of the environment 4

5 ACTIVITIES: The CENTRE FOR PACIFIC CROPS AND TREES Located on the ground floor THE CENTRE FOR PACIFIC CROPS AND TREES Conservation Utilisation Virus Indexing Distribution Research Capacity Building/Training Promotion/Awareness Pacific Collection duplicated at the USP (University of the South Pacific), in Samoa

6 Activities: Pacific Island Tree Seed Centre Aims: (PITSC) located on the top floor facilitate safe exchange & sharing of priority tree germplasm (timber & fruit) species Strengthen collaboration with JICA, CSIRO & EU thru EU FACT project MTA established for germplasm exchange (5 countries signed Fiji, PNG, Solomons Is, Tonga and Vanuatu) Sourcing of priority tree species (mahogany, Caribbean, pine, s/wood, teak & vesi) for regional distribution Collaborative research -Japanese Forest Products Research Institute on Dilo (Calophyllum inophyllum), traits suited to coastal protection/oil /wood

7 Tree species currently collected by PITSC Tree Seed Centre: Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) -from Central America, (Honduras) Teal(Tectona grandis) -collected from Solomon Islands Caribbean Pine (Pinus Caribaeavar. hondurensis) - collected from Fiji Vesi (Intsia bijuga) - collected from Fiji Sandalwood (Santalum yasi) - collected from Fiji

8 SPC ANNEX 1 CROPS OF THE ITPGRFA (highlighted in red), Dec12 CROPS # ACCESSIONS Taro (C.esculenta) 1,160 Alocasia (A.macrorrhizos) 11 Cyrtosperma (C. merkusii) 56 Xanthosoma (X.sagittifolium) 9 Banana (Musa spp) 179 Cassava (M.esculenta) 24 Yam (Dioscorea spp) 300 Sweet potato (I.batatas) 235 Potato (S. tuberosum) 11 Vanilla (V.fragrans) 7 Breadfruit (A. altilis) 13 Pandanus (P.tectorius) 5 Sandalwood (Santalum spp) 3 Kava (P. methysticum) 5 TOTAL 2,018 8

9 INTERNATIONAL TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE (ITPGRFA) The SPC Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), the Region s genebank housing over 2,000 accessions of staple food crops (mainly taro) uses the Standard Material Transfer Agreement(SMTA) for all germplasm exchanges

10 INTERNATIONAL TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE (ITPGRFA) In 2009the Annex 1 collections maintainedby CePaCT for the region were placedin the MLSof the Treaty. 2011: Signing of the agreement for SPCto act as an agentin the implementation of the Treatyfor Contracting Parties in the region To date 5 countries (Samoa, Cook Is, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau)have acceded to the Treaty and French Polynesia (through France but the countries also held internal consultations) Australia has ratified the Treaty

11 SPC SOURCES GERMPLASM FROM: TARO (Colocasia esculenta) PacificTaro sourced from around the Pacific region under the AusAid Tarogen (Taro Genetic Resources: Conservation and Utilisation) project,1998 Asian Taro sourced from Indonesia Research Institute under the EU/TANSAO (Taro Network for South East Asia and Oceania) network New Asian Taro sourced from Philippines, Vietnam & Indonesia under the Global Crop Diversity Trust regeneration project, ongoing Taro breeding lines developed in Samoa and PNG under donor funding programs by AusAid Tarogen project using Pacific material and Asian material generated under Ausaid/TaroGen and EU/TANSAO. Other breeding lines obtained from Hawaii through collaboration with University of Hawaii

12 OTHER AROIDS ALOCASIA, XANTHOSOMA, SWAMP TARO These are mainly sourced from within the Pacific region Recently, some xanthosoma and swamp taro received from the University of Philippines under the Trust crop regeneration project

13 BANANA (Musaspp) and CASSAVA (M.esculenta) Banana obtained from Bioversity International, Belgium and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), Australia Pacific banana (Fei, iholena and maia-popoulu) acquired from Pacific countries and ITC Centre under the Trust Regeneration Project in collaboration with Bioversity International. Cassava from International Centre of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Columbia Some acquired within the Pacific under SPC projects

14 YAM (Dioscoreaspp) Pacific alata yam sourced from Pacific countries under the EU South Pacific Yam Network (SYPN) project Other Pacific yam collected under the Trust regeneration project Some alata and rotundata yam obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria

15 SWEET POTATO (I. batatas) and Potato (S.Tuberosum) Sourced from International Centre for Potato (CIP), Peru also from Plant Breeding Institute, Burnley, Australia and the United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Griffin, Georgia, United States

16 VANILLA (V.fragrans) and Breadfruit (A.altilis) Vanilla sourced from the Ministry of Primary Industries, Fiji, Fiji National University and the University of the South Pacific, Samoa Breadfruit sourced from within the Pacific region under the Trust regeneration project in collaboration with the Ministries of Agricultures in the countries (Samoa, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu)

17 PANDANUS (Pandanusspp) Collected from around coastal area and inland of Fiji and from SPC Nabua compound

18 GERMPLASM DISTRIBUTION ,550 plants distributed Distributed to 42 countries including Europe, Africa, Caribbean and Asia (under SPC EU International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA) project) Crops distributed alocasia, bananas, bele, breadfruit, cassava, Irish potato, kava (Fiji only), sweet potatoes, taro, vanilla and yams SPC MTA used for distribution before 2009 Annex 1 material distributed under SMTA after June 2009 for all exchanges. All records kept by SPC as a provider 18

19 COUNTRIES RECEIVED TISSUE CULTURE MATERIAL FROM CePaCT ( ) FROM THE PACIFIC REGION 23 Pacific Island countries and territories -American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Is, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna OUTSIDE OF THE PACIFIC REGION (mainly taro (C.esculenta) Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, Portugal, Cameroon, Haiti, US 19

20 FOCAL POINTS OF NP & TREATY SPC focal point for the Treaty in the Pacific. Ministry of Agriculture -focal contact points in the countries SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme), Samoa focal point for NP. Min of Environment focal contact points in the countries

21 Challenges in implementation of NP and ITPGRFA Confusion by countries on which GR should be covered under which ie whether GR targeted should be covered under NP or Treaty Some country focal points (Mins Environment and Agriculture) are confused which appropriate Ministry to handle germplasm requests even if its PGR for food security and who should deal with import permits to allow importation and exportation of GR (eg Samoas Min of Environment raised this & discussed in NP ABS meeting in Samoa, Savaii 2012)

22 Challenges cont d Preference by some countries on Nagoya Protocol ABS over Treaty due to the fact ABS benefits are channeled directly to countries instead of the MLS of the Treaty eg Samoa already is a contracting party to the Treaty and yet they signed another MTA with a private company in Canada under the umbrella of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in Hawaii to allow Samoan breadfruits collected by (Dr Diane Ragone, Director of NTBG) Hawaii before CBD be commercialized Problem to be arised sharing of PGRFA will become difficult as countries will put emphasis on ABS rather than facilitated sharing of PGR to allow for creation of new resilient germplasm for mankind and sustained food security

23 Challenges cont d Clash between Ministries regarding approved MTA established by SPC and other Pacific countries for sharing of certain tree seed species amongst Pacific island countries. Eg Vanuatu Min of Environment used Nagoya Protocol to charge SPC for the collection mission. This issue was put on hold until is sorted by both Vanuatu Min of Agriculture and Min of Environment Issue: could be due to lack of awareness, communication and collaboration between Ministries on whats happening in other Ministries

24 Challenges cont d Traditional knowledge, under NP, ABS is charged for acquisition of TK whilst PGRFA work, documentation/ utilisation/preservation of TK for future generation is encouraged and no claiming of ABS on TK. eg the Pacific usually shares their TK freely before with medicine, farming skills etc so that everybody else in the community benefits, now with NP, people started to keep things to themselves, although is good to get ABS on TK but TK can be lost if not shared or documented. Where do we draw the line here on use of TK?

25 Challenges cont d Unable to track further what is really happening to germplasm after it left SPC, sometimes we sent contacts to some private recipients, and they never responded Eg Northern Marianas, Address: Mr Tim Brown General Manager All Seasons Colonial of Norfolk Island Phone: Ph: (6723) Facsimile: Fax: (6723) tim.cam@colonialnorfolkisland.com

26 Challenges cont d Confusion on the definition of commercialisation in the SMTA, quite broad should be further clarified. Need to know the boundries on the application of commercialization eg.. SPC distributes new improved material to farmers for food security, hence selling eg taro corms from new material to local markets and or even export to overseas for food security, to what extent does commercialisation apply in this transaction that warrants payment by farmers to the MLS?

27 THANK YOU