Subject: PANUPS: NGO's Accuse World Bank
From: [email-masked] (EcoNet Pesticide Issue Desk)
Date: 28 Jun 1994 01:06:56 -0400
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

From: EcoNet Pesticide Issue Desk <pestdesk>

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  PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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NGOs Accuse World Bank of Attempting to Raid Gene 
Reserves

June 24, 1994

The World Bank is attempting to take control of 
important international germplasm collections, according 
to a statement released by over 40 environmental and 
development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) 
attending a meeting on biological diversity in Nairobi 
this week.  The germplasm collections, comprising almost 
half a million samples of crop biodiversity, are a vital 
resource for future plant breeding and for the present 
and future stability and resilience of farming systems 
that are not chemically dependent.  The collections were 
donated by farmers in developing countries and account 
for 40% of the total worldwide unique collections of 
agricultural genetic materials.  The NGOs attending the 
Nairobi meeting, which is the Second Session of the 
Intergovernmental Committee of the Convention on 
Biological Diversity, want the committee to ensure that 
control over these germplasm collections is given to an 
intergovernmental body that is based on a one nation - 
one vote system.

The germplasm collections were gathered by the 
Consultative Group on International Agricultural 
Research (CGIAR), which is an informal group of donors 
supporting 18 International Agricultural Research 
Centres.  These centers developed and promoted Green 
Revolution technologies throughout the world. Co-
sponsored jointly by United Nations Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Program 
and the World Bank, the CGIAR has no formal legal 
identity and works on the basis of consensus among its 
mainly industrialized country members. The legal status 
of the germplasm collections held by the International 
Agricultural Research Centres is uncertain and could be 
expropriated by various parties, although the CGIAR 
claims they are held "in trust" for the benefit of the 
international community. Recently, an agreement to 
establish intergovernmental authority over these 
collections was negotiated between CGIAR and FAO, and 
was meant to give an internationally agreed meaning to 
the idea of "trusteeship." This agreement was to have 
been endorsed at a meeting of the CGIAR in New Delhi, 
India, in late May.

At the New Delhi meeting, in the context of the worst 
budgetary crisis in the 23 years history of CGIAR, the 
World Bank came forward with a number of linked 
initiatives.  Bank officials announced they were 
"forgiving" outstanding CGIAR debts and offered to 
increase group's funding to $40 million (U.S. dollars).  
In addition, the Bank offered to match new funds from 
other donors up to a combined total of $60 million and 
to create a new $2.5 billion fund (over five years) for 
national agricultural research linked to the CGIAR.  
However, the Bank also announced the formation of a 
CGIAR Steering Committee chaired by the Bank and the 
appointment of another Bank official as Chair of the new 
Finance Committee.  At the same time, the Bank scuttled 
ratification of the agreement between CGIAR and the FAO 
and announced that the Bank itself would provide 
leadership in this matter.  Subsequently, Bank officials 
announced that they are holding separate discussions 
with the recently established World Trade Organization 
about the intellectual property provisions in the 
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the 
disposition of the group's germplasm.

The NGOs meeting in Nairobi maintain that the World Bank 
is not a legitimate custodian of or policy maker for 
genetic resources donated by developing countries. The 
groups feel that the Bank sees the CGIAR as a major 
instrument for the imposition of its own agricultural 
programs and policies and as an important private sector 
technology conduit. They point out that in the Bank's 
view, CGIAR's major asset is its vast treasure trove of 
genetic materials.

While meeting in Nairobi on 18-19 June 1994, the NGOs 
made the following recommendations to protect germplasm 
collections: 
1. The ultimate control of germplasm collections held 
outside of the country of origin, whether collected 
before or after the coming into force of the Convention 
on Biological Diversity, must rest with an 
intergovernmental body governed by the principle of one 
nation - one vote and with full recognition of farmers' 
rights.
2. The critical social and economic importance of the 
genetic materials that nurture people -- including 
animals, plants, and micro-organisms used for food, 
fiber, pharmaceutical and other purposes -- should be 
recognized through a protocol to the Biodiversity 
Convention.
3. CGIAR's germplasm collections gathered both prior to 
the Biodiversity Convention and since, must come under 
the intergovernmental authority of a body as described 
above.
4. The initiative by the World Bank to take control of 
the CGIAR gene banks should be rejected, and the CGIAR-
FAO agreements should be concluded expeditiously.
5. Ultimately, the genetic resources held in the CGIAR 
gene banks, as well as all other ex situ collections, 
should come under the rules of the Biodiversity 
Convention. 

Sources: Press Release, RAFI, GRAIN and TWN, June 20, 
1994; Statement from NGOs submitted to ICCBD delegates, 
June 20, 1994; Financial Times, June 21, 1994.

Contacts: Rural Advancement Foundation International-
USA, P.O. Box 655, Pittsboro NC 27312; phone 919-542-
1396; fax 919-542-2460; email [email-masked];  

Genetic Resources Action International; Jonqueres 16 6 
D, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain; phone (34-3) 310-5909; fax 
(34-3) 310-5952; email [email-masked];  

Third World Network, 87 Cantonment Road, 10250 Penang, 
Malaysia; phone (60-4) 373-511; fax (60-4) 368-106.  

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