Plant genetic resources treaty enters into force.

• Author: Chafe, Zoe
• Position: Environmental Intelligence - Brief Article

Recent ratification by the European Community, 11 European countries, and Egypt will allow a treaty aimed at conserving the biodiversity of plant genetic resources used in agriculture to enter into force on June 29. Forty-eight countries now support the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which overtly promotes farmers' rights to protect the "past, present, and future contributions of farmers in conserving, improving, and making available plant genetic resources." The treaty will not apply to countries, including the United States and Japan, which have yet to ratify it.

Since agriculture began roughly 10,000 years ago, some 10,000 species have been used in food production, but today just 150 crops feed most humans and 12 provide 80 percent of all food...