Niveau juridique : International
Le Fonds fiduciaire mondial pour la diversité des cultures (Crop Trust Endowment Fund) a réuni les gouvernements et le secteur privé en avril 2016 pour une Conférence des donateurs.
* COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE
lien www.croptrust.org/press-release/doubling-of-endowment-fund-to-preserve-agricultural-biodiversity
A retenir
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le fonds de dotation aurait récolté 300 millions de dollars USA, et depuis sa création en 2004 une demi milliard de dollars ont été engagés dans le travail du fonds
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des accords de coopération ont été signés avec le Brésil, le japon, la Norvège, DuPont Pioneer, l’Ethiopie, le Ghana et le Chili.
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volonté de la Norvège de travailler/déverrouiller le potentiel génétique des des espèces sauvages apparentés et volonté du Japon de travailler/déverrouiller le potentiel génétique des des riz africains.
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voir également en fin du CP « NOTES FOR EDITORS » pour infos intéressantes sur les participants.
* DISCOURS de M. Jan Eliasson, Vice-Secrétaire général de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, lors de la réunion à Washington :
Lien vers le discours complet : www.croptrust.org/blog/keynote-address-deputy-secretary-general-of-the-united-nations/
Extraits choisis :
« Too many trends and interests lead us to rely on a single, genetically uniform crop. Short term yields may be higher. But we are courting disaster if we fail to safeguard natural diversity among and within crops – and also among their wild relatives.
It is alarming that serious research now shows that many wild plants, which are a foundation for our future global food supply, are currently missing from the world’s gene banks. More than 70 percent of essential crop wild relative species are in urgent need of collection and conservation.
This is a global challenge. We must join forces internationally. No country has all the diversity it needs to develop sustainable food systems. International cooperation is absolutely essential if we are to protect the foundation of world agriculture and generate new crops.
We have seen the value of investing in a broad genetic basis for crops.
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has developed more than 150 new varieties of maize. In less than a decade, it has improved yields in more than a dozen African countries.
This is a substantial result that we clearly can replicate on an even larger scale.
We are here to generate many more such successes. We are here to help millions of people by securing their right to a diverse food supply.
The Crop Trust can help transform this vision into a reality. »
(….)
« There is a straight line connecting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Crop Trust’s mission as an essential funding mechanism of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Target 2.5 of SDG 2 calls on us to: “maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels”.
All countries have an interest in plant genetic resources. All depend largely on crops that originated elsewhere. In short, crop diversity is a global public good.
Losing diversity means losing options for the future. We cannot retrieve what has been lost. We can only safeguard what we have left.
These challenges make it more important than ever to raise funds for initiatives like the Crop Trust Endowment. It is our insurance policy for food security and nutrition of humanity. »
(…)
« I am pleased to see that the Crop Trust is reaching beyond traditional grants from governments. The Crop Trust is opening up to concessional donor loans and seeking ways to tap into private investment capital.
This can generate further funds to protect the world’s agricultural heritage.
At the same time, governments must make an unequivocal commitment, backed by resources, to the conservation of global agricultural biodiversity.
Agricultural biodiversity is a global public good that demands responsible action also by nation states. The good international solutions are in today’s world in every country’s national interest.
In closing, let me on behalf of the United Nations, thank all governments that will pledge funding for the Crop Trust endowment fund today and in the next few weeks and months.
I count on the Crop Trust to find new and innovative ways of financing global common goods, in cooperation with the private sector, philanthropy, science and civil society. »