34 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I n the eighties, countries started recognizing that biological diversity is a global asset of value to present and future generations. In response, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) started work that after a few years of nego- tiations would lead to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which came into force in December 1993. The negotiating experts were to take into account "the need to share costs and benefits between developed and developing countries" as well as "ways and means to support innovation by local people". Around the same time, countries also recognized they were very much depending on each other for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. To that end, a voluntary agreement, the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IU), was adopted in 1983. However, the IU was reliant on the principle of genetic resources being the common heritage of humanity. The CBD brought genetic resources under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of national governments. Yet, the CBD recognized the special and distinctive nature of agricul- tural genetic resources. Such resources are international, with frequent border crossings; their conservation and sustainable use required distinctive solutions and they were important inter- nationally for food security. Subsequently, the IU was renegoti- ated to align with the CBD, and was renamed as a treaty: the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). To deal with the aspect of dependency, the ITPGRFA developed a system to facilitate access and bene- fit sharing for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, through the so-called multilateral system. In that system, access and benefit sharing are organized through a standard contract that was internationally negotiated. The main caveat was the access and benefit sharing through CBD was rarely happening and countries decided to develop a separate protocol to elaborate the whole access and benefit sharing process. After several years of negotiation, the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) was adopted in 2010 and entered into force on 12 October 2014, as a supplemen- tary protocol to the CBD. Its aim is the implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. However, there are concerns the added bureaucracy and legislation will, overall, be damaging to the monitoring and collection of biodiversity, to conservation, to the international response to infectious diseases, and to research. In previous European Seed articles from 2014, we wrote about the Nagoya Protocol and its impact on the European seed industry. Now that we are three years down the road, it is time to take stock and see what kind of changes are needed in a seed company to comply with the emerging access and benefit sharing regulations. To find out more from a seed industry standpoint, WHAT IT TAKES FOR A SEED COMPANY TO KEEP TRACK OF THEIR GENETIC RESOURCES. BY: MARCEL BRUINS No access, no benefits