TITLE: Potato Capital of the
World Offers Up New Recipe AUTHOR: Sanjay Suri
PUBLICATION: IPS News DATE: 18 January 2005 URL:
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27069
NOTE: The full text of the agreement signed between ANDES,
Potato Park and CIP is provided in English below.
El
texto del convenio en español se encuentra
aquí:
http://www.grain.org/brl/?docid=267&lawid=2223
POTATO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD OFFERS UP NEW RECIPE
Sanjay Suri
Peru gave the world the potato, and the potato now offers indigenous people around the world a new recipe for securing their rights.
LONDON, Jan 18 (IPS) - Peru gave the world the potato, and the potato now offers indigenous people around the world a new recipe for securing their rights.
A new agreement between six indigenous communities and the International Potato Centre in Cusco, Peru, heart of the old Inca civilisation in the Andes mountains of Latin America, recognises the right of these communities over the unique potato strains that they have developed and grown.
"No, this does not mean that these communities will now procure patents over these varieties of potato," Alejandro Argumedo, associate director of the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES), a Cusco-based civil society group led by indigenous peoples, told IPS.
"These indigenous people are against patents," Argumedo explained. "They represent a model of property that does not fit into their worldview. Indigenous people are used to exchanging and sharing information in open ways. But this means a legal agreement that no one else can claim intellectual property rights over their knowledge."
The implications can be far-reaching, Argumedo said. Whether it is varieties of corn in Mexico or basmati rice in India, the agreement over these potatoes "is a first legal sign of the restoration of rights that indigenous people once had."
Peru would of course use potatoes to break new ground; it is the official centre of the world of potatoes.
"Potatoes are important for us as food but also as a cultural symbol," Argumedo said. "We have co-evolved with potatoes. Peru gave the potato to the world, they are so important in marriage and religious ceremonies. They mean so much in Andean culture and iconography that goes back thousands of years."
The Andes region in and around Peru has more than 2,000 varieties of potato, among more than 4,000 varieties around the world. A potato park in Cusco produces about 700 varieties of potato.
ANDES helped broker the agreement with the International Potato Centre, one of 15 consultative groups for international agricultural research centres responsible for the world's largest agro-biodiversity gene bank collections.
The eminent reputation of the centre gives strong international weight to the agreement. Although it does not involve a government, it is legal under Peruvian law.
The new agreement "means that Andean communities can unlock the potato gene bank and repatriate biological diversity to farming communities and the natural environment for local and global benefit," ANDES said in a statement Tuesday.
Though excluded and often oppressed, indigenous peoples are the traditional custodians of biodiversity, and this agreement recognises that "the conservation, sustainable use and development of maximum agro-biodiversity is of vital importance in order to improve the nutrition, health and other needs of the growing global population," ANDES says.
Several policy analysts and civil society campaigners are preparing to push for similar initiatives at a meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity to be held in Bangkok next month, and at a World Intellectual Property Organisation meeting to be held in Geneva in June.
The new agreement, called the "agreement on the repatriation, restoration and monitoring of agro-biodivisity of native potatoes and associated community knowledge systems", will challenge the trend of "privatising genetic resources and indigenous knowledge which has seen seed gene banks swallowed up by unaccountable research bodies and corporations, threatening local livelihoods and cultural ways of life," ANDES said in its statement.
ANDES campaigned for the agreement with considerable support from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the government of the Netherlands.
"Civil society groups, particularly those led by indigenous peoples, should not be dictated to, but they do need greater support from the rich countries," Dr Michel Pimbert, director of the sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods programme at IIED, said in a statement.
"Groundbreaking agreements, like this example in Peru, require negotiation with all parties on an equal footing," he said, "which means boosting the capacity of local indigenous communities to argue their case for access to the genetic resources they helped develop in the first place."
Asociacion Andes - Potato Park - International Potato Centre
AGREEMENT ON THE REPATRIATION, RESTORATION AND MONITORING OF AGROBIODIVERSITY OF NATIVE POTATOES AND ASSOCIATED COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
between
The Association of Communities in the Potato Park, represented by the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES, in its Spanish acronym)
and
The International Potato Centre (CIP, in its Spanish acronym)
This document contains the Agreement between the Association of Communities in the Potato Park ("the Park"), represented by the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development ("ANDES") in the person of the President of the Management Committee, Mr. Alejandro Argumedo Medina, of Jr. Ruinas 451, Cusco, Peru; and the International Potato Centre ("CIP"), represented by the Director General Dr. Hubert G. Zandstra of Avenida La Molina 1895, La Molina, Lima.
I. Given that:
The two parties are aware that the conservation, sustainable use and development of maximum agrobiodiversity is of vital importance in order to improve the nutrition, health and other needs of the growing global population, and play a central role in the maintenance of sustainable systems within the biosphere.
Both the Park and CIP are aware of the central importance of continuity in in situ and ex situ strategies for conservation, sustainable use and development of agricultural biodiversity.
There is acknowledgement that indigenous and local communities have been, and continue to be, the main custodians of agricultural systems, and the authors of related knowledge.
Indigenous communities constitute a global community which is committed to mutual progress and benefit through open and equitable sharing and exchange of practical and cultural knowledge systems which contribute to human creativity and progress.
Both parties are aware that customary rights and responsibilities underpin the custody of agrobiodiversity by indigenous communities, and agree on the need to promote the restoration of these rights and responsibilities.
The provisions of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are fundamental to the effective implementation of this Agreement in relationship to the respect and promotion of the rights and responsibilities of local indigenous communities and of biodiversity.
Both the Park and CIP recognise that the Potato Park is a community which started and is managed within a conservation area, and which forms an innovative bridge between traditional concepts of in situ and ex situ conservation, increases the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and promotes local and indigenous knowledge systems and rights.
CIP is an international body regulated through the Headquarters Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Peru and the International Potato Centre. CIP seeks to contribute to the reduction of poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries through scientific research and related activities on potato, sweet potato, other root and tuber crops, and through improved management of natural resource in the Andes and other mountain areas.
The Potato Park is a local model of conservation of sustainable use of agrobiodiversity and promotion and protection of the associated resources, knowledge and traditional practices, developed by the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development ANDES, and six indigenous communities in Pisaq, Cusco: Saccaca, Cuyo Grande, Amaru, Paru-Paru, Pampallacta and Chawaytire.
CIP has the necessary capacity for the conservation and sustainable use of potato biodiversity and that of other Andean roots and tubers, and is committed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including the sustainable and culturally-appropriate development of local and indigenous communities.
The terms used in this Agreement are defined in Annex 1. This Annex forms an integral part of this Agreement.
Therefore, the Park and CIP, taking into account their budgetary constraints, agree to sign this Agreement for the "Repatriation, restoration and monitoring of agrobiodiversity of native potato and associated community knowledge systems" according to the following terms:
II. Objectives
1. Promote the cultivation, use and maintenance of maximum diversity of traditional or locally appropriate agricultural resources.
2. Ensure that genetic resources and knowledge remain under the custody of the communities and do not become subject to intellectual property rights in any form.
3. Promote, through collaborative research, the role of in situ and ex situ strategies in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity. Moreover, through this Agreement, strengthen the role of the Potato Park as a means of promoting continuity between the two strategies for the mutual benefit of the two parties and of conservation and agricultural development in general.
4. Develop the collaboration between the two parties and others, in ways which promote respect for the biological resources and associated rights and responsibilities of local and indigenous communities.
5. Implement this Agreement with regard to traditional principles associated with rural development laws and common practices and the promotion of the rights and traditions of the indigenous communities of the Park, including but not limited to, the previous agreement on activities which might affect the rights and responsibilities of these communities.
III. Scope
This Agreement is limited to the repatriation of elements related to agrobiodiversity of native potato and associated knowledge available for custody by indigenous communities in the Park. This includes, follow-up by the two parties to carry out participatory research on the flow and evolution of diversity, classification, variation and geographical distribution, and management of materials repatriated to the Park, issues related to the continuity of in situ and ex situ conservation, and other activities which are mutually agreed by the parties.
IV. Nature of the Agreement
1. This Agreement establishes a relationship of mutual collaboration between the Park and CIP to fulfil the objectives and activities indicated herein.
2. This Agreement should not grant rights to either party to act, communicate or take any other action in the name of the other, unless the other party has given its consent.
3. All rights, obligations, responsibilities and benefits obtained under this Agreement should be considered to be of the parties, except where otherwise indicated in the Agreement.
V. Compatibility with national and international regulations
1. This Agreement is within the framework of the principles established in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and other relevant international, regional and national agreements and treaties with which it is compatible.
2. The two parties agree to adapt this Agreement to other relevant legislation and regulations which come into force in the future.
VI. Responsibilities
1. Joint responsibilities of the Park and CIP
a) Promote the in situ conservation and management, and its
relationship with ex situ conservation of genetic
resources of native potato.
b) As far as physical,
human and finance resources permit, to multiply, ensure
the condition of and make available these materials for
redistribution to third parties.
c) As far as possible,
to jointly seek funding sources to support the development
of the activities described in this Agreement.
d)
Jointly promote the development and distribution of
publicity.
e) Keep each other mutually informed
regarding activities related to this Agreement.
f)
The parties will produce reports on progress related to the
Agreement any time agreed by both, and when it is relevant
to provide joint information to the CBD, the FAO or other
national, regional or international bodies.
g) The
parties agree to implement the Agreement in such as way as
to promote respect, preserve and maintain indigenous and
local knowledge, innovation and practices.
h)
Acknowledging the enormous contribution which the
communities within the Park have made and continue to make
to the conservation and development of genetic plant
resources.
The parties also agree:
i.
Subject to availability of resources, to include in the
collaborative activities the recording and protection of
community knowledge systems related to genetic resources
for food and farming.
ii. To support the right of the
communities to an equitable share of the benefits gained
from the use of genetic plant resources for food and
agriculture.
iii. To carry out actions to integrate
community activities as a unique part of agricultural
research and development which complement modern
approaches, and to explore alternatives for a respectful
interaction between these two approaches and the
development of innovative strategies in this field.
iv. The parties recognise that concepts and standards of
community rights and peasant rights are rapidly evolving
and agree to discuss the adaptation of the provisions of
this Agreement as necessary to reflect future standards.
2. Responsibilities of the Park
Depending on the resources available:
a) To maintain viable
genetic material for distribution and sowing by members of
the Potato Park and third parties, in accordance with the
Agreement.
b) To maintain access to the genetic
material.
c) Whenever necessary, to obtain the consent
of other indigenous and local community organisations for
the redistribution of repatriated native crops.
d) To
observe the terms and conditions of the Potato Park
regulations.
e) To provide information to CIP on the
activities of the Potato Park, in accordance with the
terms of this Agreement.
f) To participate in
collaborative research on issues indicated in this
Agreement and others which may be agreed and are of mutual
interest to the parties.
3. Responsibilities of CIP
Depending on its human resource, financial and physical capacity:
a) To prepare and make available
the genetic material for its repatriation.
b) To
guarantee the good condition of the plant material. The
repatriated material must be free of known pests and
disease, or must first have gone through pest and disease
eradication by CIP.
c) To provide technical assistance
to the Park for the maintenance, monitoring and
multiplication of seed and management of the repatriated
genetic materials.
VII. Normative aspects
1. The parties recognise the role of the Potato Park in developing a community protocol for the management of knowledge systems, in accordance with the customary rights and responsibilities of the communities, and agree to implement this Agreement in such a way as to reflect the principles of open sharing for mutual benefit and for the benefit of humanity.
2. The parties agree that this provision shall be fulfilled through the management of biological material in accordance with the provisions of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, and the CIP policy on genetic resources (1988), which are based on the CBD principles (1993) and which respect the 1994 Custody Agreements with the FAO, under which CIP shall not demand legal ownership of designated germoplasm (such as cultivars of native potato), or associated information, and shall ensure that any other person or institution which receives the germoplasm shall be subject to the same provisions.
VIII. Confidentiality
1. The parties agree that this Agreement, and any later amendment to the same, shall be available on request or through any means considered appropriate, subject to the following conditions:
a)
Where repatriated biological diversity is the subject of
current research by CIP, the Park agrees to maintain
confidentiality of the details of such research and
development, if CIP so requests and where this
confidentiality is for specific reasons. Confidentiality
shall not be required beyond the term required for these
specific reasons.
b) When the details on any
repatriated biological diversity, under this Agreement,
have been handed over by CIP under confidentiality terms,
the Park agrees to respect those terms.
2. The parties agree that any financial right or obligation arising from this Agreement and any later amendment of the Agreement should be reported through the appropriate institutional means, or any other relevant means considered acceptable by the parties.
IX. Information
1. The parties agree to notify the Peruvian authority responsible for regulating access to genetic materials of any repatriation of agricultural biological material carried out under this Agreement.
2. If one of the parties is required under this Agreement to provide duplicates of repatriated agricultural biodiversity to a third party, the other party will be notified of this transaction.
X. Distribution of possible benefits
The parties agree that possible benefits arising from the activities using repatriated materials for food and agriculture, should in the first instance be used to develop and improve the broader functions of the Park and its services, such as those which benefit the communities in general, the region, and the country. We are using the definition of benefits contained in the FAO International Treaty. The mechanisms for implementing benefit sharing will be developed by mutual agreement of the parties.
XI. Implementation
1. It is agreed that the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development, ANDES, shall act as the first contact and representative of the Park, and that any communication and notification from CIP to the Park shall be addressed to ANDES.
2. ANDES shall ensure that communications and notifications from CIP to the Park should be conveyed quickly and accurately.
XII. Validity, Term and Modification
1. This Agreement shall be valid from the date of signature and shall remain valid for the period of five (5) years, and may be renewed for subsequent periods of five (5) years as requested by the parties.
2. This Agreement may be amended under the mutual agreement of the parties. Any amendment must be explicit and in writing, signed by the representatives of the parties and attached to the Agreement. Any modification related to the role, rights or obligations of ANDES should have the consent of the authorised representatives of ANDES.
XIII. Termination of the Agreement
This Agreement may be rescinded by either of the parties, and at any time, as long as the party intending to terminate the Agreement notifies the other party of its intention with six months? notice. This notification must be expressed in writing.
XIV. Fulfilment of the Agreement
Neither of the parties shall be held responsible by the other for delays or non-fulfilment of the obligations set out in this Agreement due to external causes beyond their control (force majeure or chance events) including, but not restricted to, any of the following: act of God, act of government, war, fire, flood, climate or environmental change, explosion, social or industrial unrest or disputes by a third party. The Agreement shall be suspended for the duration of the cause when the affected party gives written notification to the other party of the cause and possible duration, and explains how this will affect its responsibilities.
XV. Conflict resolution
Both parties agree to establish conflict resolution procedures within six months of signature of this Agreement. These procedures shall be mutually agreed by the two parties and shall as far as possible reflect normal conflict resolution principles. The relevant document shall be annexed to this Agreement.
Both parties agree to the terms of this Agreement, and sign it in triplicate on December 17, 2004.
On behalf of the
Association of Communities in the Potato Park
Mr.
Alejandro Peralta Huaman
Vice-President of the
Management Committee
[Signed]
On behalf of the
Association for Nature and Sustainable Development ANDES
Dr. Alejandro Argumedo Medina
President of the
Advisory Committee
[Signed]
On behalf of the
International Potato Centre
Dr. Hubert G. Zandstra
Director General
[Signed]
Annex 1: Definition of terms for the purpose of this Agreement
Repatriation: The return and distribution of components of the knowledge systems such as samples of plant varieties and associated knowledge. The objective of the repatriation is the restoration of these components of the system.
Agrobiodiversity: The variety and variability of plans, animals and micro-organisms necessary to maintain the essential functions of the eco-system, its structure and processes for and in support of the production of food and food security.
Knowledge systems: Includes biological resources, associated knowledge and practices which belong to or are in the custody of local or indigenous communities of Peru, and related intellectual property. The indivisibility of the resources, the associated knowledge and the culture is fundamental to the integrity of knowledge systems.
Intellectual property: The value of knowledge resulting from intellectual activity. This knowledge may be adapted to obtain (intellectual) property rights recognised by law.
Intellectual property obligations: Refers to the responsibilities recognised by indigenous and local communities in accordance with customary law and related to intangible components of agricultural bio-diversity.
Intellectual property rights: Refers to legal instruments to allow those claiming the right, to protect an innovation from appropriation by others, either through use or through commercialisation. Consisting primarily of patents, licences, obtainer's rights, author's rights, trademarks and secrets.
GOING FURTHER (compiled by GRAIN)
"Indians in Peru
regain potato rights", New Scientist, London, 22 January
2005.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524833.500
Priya Shetty, "Peruvian 'potato park' to
protect indigenous rights", SciDev.Net, London, 19
January 2005.
http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&it
emid=1859&language=1
IIED, "New potato
deal in Peru signposts global drive to open up food
genebanks to Indigenous Peoples", Press Release, London, 18
January 2005.
http://www.iied.org/aboutiied/press.html#Potato