Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Report 74 of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties contains the review of the agreement for the establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The thrust of the agreement is to establish a permanent funding structure that will help maintain the genetic plant material held in the field and in gene banks. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture provides for the physical maintenance of genetic plant material for food and agriculture and was previously reviewed by the committee and appears in report 68.

The committee received evidence that in the last 25 years there has been an accelerated decline in agricultural diversity due mainly to large increases in population and unsustainable practices affecting the natural environment. This situation has also negatively influenced the security of food sources and put these food sources at risk in the wild and in gene bank collections. The role of the 1,470 gene banks in existence is to conserve, manage and reproduce crop varieties and their related wild species, of which there are approximately 5.4 million samples in existence. Sixty-five per cent of gene banks are located in developing nations and receive annual funding. However, since 1996, around 60 per cent of funding for the world’s gene banks has either decreased or remained static.

It is recognised that genetic diversity is central to agricultural innovation and allows for the breeding of crops that will increase production and enhance the capacity to manage new and existing threats from pests, diseases, climate change and environmental degradation. As a major agricultural producer and plant breeder, Australia has a national interest in ensuring the maintenance of continued access to genetic material held in international gene banks. In addition to ensuring that Australia will have continued access to the genetic material held in international gene banks, the trust will complement Australia’s aid program by reducing poverty and improving food security in developing partner countries. The committee received information that new varieties of high-yielding crops secure export markets for agricultural produce and increase domestic and export earnings, thereby contributing to economic growth in a developing country.

As a joint initiative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, the trust will provide technical and capacity-building assistance to enable collections of genetic resources to meet required standards and promote and assist in the development of a rational and efficient system of crop diversity conservation in gene banks internationally.

An executive board, to which Australia has indicated its intention to join, will manage the trust with an annual budget of $US260 million and an annual turnover of between $US10 million to $US14 million. The Grains Research and Development Corporation of Australia has pledged $US5 million and the Australian government has pledged $US7.5 million to the trust.

In its role as Chair of the Donor’s Council, Australia is nominating a member of the inaugural executive board. Australia will also be responsible for selecting four members of the existing executive board of the trust by mid-2006. A number of Australian agencies support Australia’s pursuit of a seat on the executive board. These include the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Crawford Fund.

The committee has indicated its support for Australia’s pursuit of a position on the executive board of the trust, given the upcoming meeting of the organisation. However, the committee has indicated that it is concerned that it was not informed of the trust agreement during the course of its three-year review of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which would have allowed for greater scrutiny of this agreement. The committee is further concerned that only one member of the Cairns Group of nations is involved in the treaty, given their importance to Australia. I commend the report to the House and again thank the secretariat for their ongoing work for the committee.

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