Iran has ratified the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. With this country are 100 who have already deposited their instruments of acceptance, today announced the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO).

The Treaty, which was approved by the FAO Conference in November 2001, entered into force on June 29, 2004, ninety days after the deposit of the fortieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty.
The
Director General of FAO, Jacques Diouf, said: This is a legally binding treaty that will be crucial for the sustainability of agriculture. Represents also an important step to achieve the main goal of the World Food Summit: to halve, by 2015, the number of hungry people in the world.

The main objectives of the International Treaty are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use for sustainable agriculture and food security, in accordance with the Convention on Biological Diversity.

According to Clive Stannard, Secretariat for the Treaty Transient, speed and level of ratification clearly indicates the huge importance that countries attach to the objectives of the Treaty, to ensure that plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, which are vital for human survival, are conserved and sustainably used and that the benefits reported that their use are distributed fairly and correctly.

The first session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was held in Madrid (Spain) from 12 to 16 June 2006. It will be the first occasion on which the Contracting Parties to the Treaty will meet to discuss its implementation.
 

Source: FAO