El objeto de esta notificación es recordarle las decisiones que se dirigen a las Partes Contratantes en relación con el Sistema Multilateral de acceso y distribución de beneficios.

The purpose of this notification is to bring to your attention decisions that are addressed to Contracting Parties in relation to the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing.

Plant breeding started about 9000 to 11,000 years ago when man started with the domestication of wild plants. Farmers and growers tried to improve their crops with desired traits through trial and error. The evolutionary theories of Darwin and the genetic experiments of Mendel that were developed at the end of the 19th century gave a further impulse to plant breeding and made it more efficient. During the 20th century breeding science was further improved through knowledge of genetics, plant pathology and entomology (Bruins, 2009). The development of hybrids (starting around 1920) was the first technology in plant breeding to offer better plant varieties to growers and farmers.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is a pivotal piece of recent legislation, providing a route map for the use of such resources for sustainable agriculture and food security. This book explains the different interests and views at stake between all players in the global food chain. It touches upon many issues such as international food governance and policy, economic aspects of food and seed trade, conservation and sustainable use of food and agricultural biodiversity, hunger alleviation, ecological concerns, consumer protection, fairness and equity across nations and between generations, plant-breeding techniques and socio-economic benefits related to food local economies