¿The regulation of access and benefit sharing calls for a variety of specialized regimes
that adequately take account of the specificities of each or a number of
sectors/subsectors of biodiversity.
The CBD broadly covers all areas of biodiversity, while it does not prevent parties
from developing specific schemes to deal with defined types of genetic resources.
The delay in the establishment of a multilateral system for PGRFA, still under
negotiation, creates a vacuum in which national laws may tend to subject PGRFA to

¿[¿] there is room for maneuver to reconcile the operation of the principle of facilitated access under a multilateral system on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, with certain forms of protection under IPRs. The recognition that materials covered by that
system shall be deemed as non-protectable by IPRs, would be an important and
reasonably achievable step, that may speed up the adoption of and ensure an
extensive flow of germplasm under a multilateral system.¿

¿We, as participants gathered here at the Global Forum for Agricultural Research in Dresden,
Germany, on May 21 2000, being drawn from the national agricultural research systems,
regional and sub- regional organizations, universities, advanced research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, farmers¿ organizations, multilateral and donor
agencies, and international agricultural research centers, recognize the important contribution of
plant genetic resources for food and agriculture towards food security, poverty alleviation, and

"Since the launching of the renewal, the CGIAR has emphasized a new
research agenda aimed at promoting a sustainable agriculture for food
security and poverty alleviation in the developing world (LDCs). In
various declarations and published materials there is constant mentions of
new technological breakthroughs developed by the IARCs that will have a
more positive impact on the poor of the LDCs. [...]To many NGOs and other
critics of the past Green Revolution, however, there is concern that by

"Besides the widely acknowledged drawbacks of GMCs: a) the spread of
transgenes to related weeds or conspecifics via crop-weed hybridization and, b)the rapid
evolution of resistance of insect pests such as Lepidoptera to Bt, the workshop was
concerned about the overall ecological implications of other more subtle effects that

"[...] the GFAR-SC approved in October of 1999 the GFAR Initiative in Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (GRFA), to be carried out in close consultation with IPGRI and with FAO. There is a strong rationale for the choice of a GRFA initiative at this time. Although the importance of GRFA is well recognized by all GFAR stakeholders, the negotiation and implementation of global agreements (including the CBD, WTO and the FAO International Undertaking on Plant genetic Resources), coupled with recent

The main objectives of the workshop were as follows: (i) to develop operational principles and
approaches for innovative public-private research partnerships; and (ii) to review partnership
proposals on rice genomics and on impact research addressing the benefits and risks of
genetically modified (GM) crops.