Europe
Golay, C., and Batur, F. (2021). Practical Manual on the right to seeds in Europe
Golay, C., and Batur, F. (2021). Practical Manual on the right to seeds in Europe (PDF, 705KB)
Download the PDF here (PDF, 705KB)
Key Messages
For over 10,000 years, peasants have freely saved, selected, exchanged and sold seeds, as well as used and reused them to produce food. Today, these customary practices remain essential to peasants’ right to food, as well as to global food security and biodiversity. But the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) over seeds at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and the promotion of commercial seed systems have posed serious challenges to the protection of these customary practices, and to the maintenance of peasant seed systems and agrobiodiversity.
In the European Union (EU) and EU Member States, seed laws and regulations have been designed to cater to the needs of the agricultural industry, and the rights of peasants have been largely neglected. Peasant seed systems and traditional knowledge have not been recognised, and therefore not adequately supported. European seed diversity has suffered a drastic decay in recent decades, largely as a result of a normative framing that disregards the needs and realities of peasants. National seed catalogues and the EU Common Catalogue have been designed to promote industrial seeds and agriculture standards, largely excluding peasant seeds. Due to strong IPR regimes, peasant seed saving, exchange and selling have been outlawed, or severely restricted in the EU. This has discouraged, and in some cases hindered the continuation of peasant agricultural activities.
To respond to these challenges, among others, the United Nations (UN) adopted in 2018 the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), in which peasants’ right to seeds is recognized. According to UNDROP, states shall, inter alia, ‘elaborate, interpret and apply relevant international agreements and standards to which they are party, in a manner consistent with their human rights obligations as they apply to peasants’ (Article 2(4)). They shall also ‘support peasant seed systems, and promote the use of peasant seeds and agrobiodiversity’ (Article 19(6)). And they shall ‘ensure that seed policies, plant variety protection and other intellectual property laws, certification schemes and seed marketing laws respect and take into account the rights, needs and realities of peasants’ (Article 19(8)).
UNDROP’s implementation represents a unique opportunity to rebalance the lack of support given to peasant seed systems worldwide, Europe included, compared to the support given to industrial seed systems in recent decades. This is essential for the protection of the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of peasants, as well as the interest of all in the preservation of crop biodiversity.
In 2018, the European Parliament (EP) called for EU Member States to support UNDROP’s adoption, and the European Economic and Social Committee called on European institutions and EU Member State governments to actively support UNDROP in all future work leading up to its realization. Following these calls, and in accordance with the need to apply international instruments adopted by the UN General Assembly in good faith, and the need to give priority to human rights norms in international and national laws, reflected in UNDROP’s Articles 2(4), 15(5) and 19(8), the EU and EU Member States shall ensure that their regional and national laws and policies, as well as the international agreements to which they are party, do not lead to violations, but to a better protection of rights of peasants, including their right to seeds.
Andersen, R. (2012). Plant genetic diversity in agriculture and farmers’ rights in Norway
See the norwegian version here: Andersen, Regine. (2011). Plantemangfold i jordbruket og bønders rettigheter i Norge. (FNI Report 11/2011). Lysaker, Norway: The Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
Download the pdf in english here (PDF, 1MB) and in norwegian here (PDF, 1MB).
This report takes the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as a point of departure and analyses achievements, gaps and needs with regard to its implementation in Norway, with focus on its provisions on farmers’ rights. Although much crop genetic diversity has been lost in Norway, substantial efforts are being made to save what is left, and to ensure farmers’ rights. Regulations on plant varieties and seed marketing represent some of the barriers, but much depends on how they will be implemented in the time to come. Traditional knowledge is disappearing, despite efforts to stop this. A consolidated strategy is lacking. Economic incentive structures are not yet in place, except for some ‘seed money’, so most of the work is based on pure idealism. Farmers involved in crop genetic diversity could participate more actively in decision making if they were better organized. The system of public consultation is seriously challenged by Norway’s EEA membership, due to the high ‘turnover’ of decisions requiring implementation at the national level, lack of transparency, and because Norwegian opinions on decisions from the EU carry so little weight. To achieve a say in these matters, it would probably be more useful to work together with other European organizations involved in this issue-area. Nevertheless, much has happened in recent years to facilitate the realization of farmers’ rights and enhance the pool of crop genetic resources available to farmers.
Bocci, R., and Chiari, T. (Eds.) (2009): The Sustainable Use of Agrobiodiversity in Italy: Report on case studies on article 6 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Download the pdf here.
This report presents the status of sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in Italy and various case studies related to article 6 of the Plant Treaty is offered. As a starting point the relationship between sustainable use and Farmers' Rights is discussed and the implementation of the Plant Treaty in Italy is analyzed. Italy's National Plan for Agrobiodiversity is presented, along with the regional legislation for the protection of local varieties. The implementation of the EU directive on conservation varieties is also discussed. Research and innovation initiatives in support of the seed plan are presented and the implementation of the Rural Development Plans is discussed in relation to incentives for agrobiodiversity. Varieties like the White Sperlonga Celery and the Quarantina potato are presented through case studies. As an example of the synergies that can exist between Natural Parks and agrobiodiversity, the case of Abruzzo is presented. In a concluding chapter the report discusses whether consumer choice can foster more diversified farming systems and the lessons learned from direct sale in Tuscany.