One of the five priority areas identified by the GFAR Steering Committee was
defined as ¿ Emergence of Global Networks in Commodity Chains¿. This line of action
refers to many crops that are not currently fully covered by the CGIAR-mandate, but are
very important to humankind, especially for many small growers in agricultural farming
systems. Some of these crops are essential for direct contributions to food security at both
local and regional levels, while others also play a significant role in poverty alleviation and

Sub-Plenary 4: Policy management & institutional development

Mainstream agricultural research has focused primarily on technical and biological aspects
and is aimed at controlling or manipulating nature through the use of external inputs, such as
agricultural chemicals or super seed. In developing countries, the results of this research have
benefited some resource-rich farmers in well-endowed areas, were suitable to only a limited
extent for poorer farmers in the more favourable areas, and were ¿ in most cases ¿ completely

We live in a world of dramatic change, be it with regard to political concepts,
understanding of ¿Good Governance¿, the role and understanding of technology or other
determinants of our life. Part and result of that are changing ideas about the state¿s role
in sustainable development. Different ideas about what the state is best capable to do led
to critical choices about what to do and what not to do ¿ and this had practical
consequences. In addition, the value of macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline for

"Biotechnology is a new area of science and one where developing countries¿ National
Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) are particularly weak. In all areas of research, GFAR
can help NARS to establish partnerships, by facilitating access to information and by

¿This paper considers the likely transaction costs that would be entailed in
exchanging plant genetic resources for food and agriculture under bilateral
agreements [...]International germplasm flow over the past decades for specific crop groups, and the number of source countries and destination countries involved, were
estimated. Four different scenarios with a varying degree of germplasm
exchange under bilateral agreements were assumed and likely transaction costs
under these four scenarios were estimated. These scenarios range from an

¿At the multilateral level, systems should: 1) Maximize opportunities for multilateral technical cooperation, aiming to establish facilitated access to materials and technologies needed for the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA. [...] 2) Promote and facilitate the harmonization of national legislation and public policies related to the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA [...] 3) Improve allocation of existing and new sources of funding, taking into account priorities of the FAO Global Plan of Action [...]¿

"[...] implementing global cooperation on the conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources for agriculture and food means organizing two processes. 1) Organizing negotiation and, once agreement has been reached, monitoring, will inevitably be the responsibility of the Intergovernmental Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture hosted by the FAO. 2) Organizing global cooperative operations could be assigned to the GFAR, which involves the operational partners that will have to be mobilized in order to implement the GPA.

¿It is commonly, but incorrectly assumed, that the Country of Origin under the
Convention on biological Diversity is the country in which a particular sample was
collected. The CBD, however, provides a different and far more rigorous standard
to be met for domesticated species. In the simplest possible interpretation, the
CBD requires that the origin of the material¿s ¿distinctive properties¿ be identified.
It is the country in which these distinctive properties arose that can claim to be the

¿The Global Plan of Action (GPA), adopted at the Fourth International Technical
Conference in Leipzig in June 1996, is a comprehensive framework for action
necessary for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for
food and agriculture (PGRFA) around the world. The GPA has been widely
welcomed at local, national, regional and international levels, and has been
extensively taken into account in developing plans and carrying out related activities.
A recent review of the GPA implementation2 found that, although considerable