1. International Agreements on Biosafety
1) The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an
international treaty or an agreement on biosafety which aims to ensure the safe handling,
transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology
that may have adverse effects on biological diversity, taking also into account risks to
human health. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the
Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 11 September 2003.
Objective of the Protocol
The objective of the Protocol is to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in
the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from
modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable
use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and specifically
focusing on transboundary movements .
Overview of features
The Protocol promotes biosafety by establishing rules and procedures for the safe transfer,
handling, and use of LMOs, with specific focus on transboundary movements of LMOs. It
features a set of procedures including one for LMOs that are to be intentionally introduced
into the environment called the advance informed agreement procedure, and one for LMOs
that are intended to be used directly as food or feed or for processing. Parties to the
Protocol must ensure that LMOs are handled, packaged and transported under conditions of
safety. Furthermore, the shipment of LMOs subject to transboundary movement must be
mediated by appropriate documentation specifying, among other things, identity of LMOs
and contact point for further information. These procedures and requirements are designed
to provide importing Parties with the necessary information needed for making informed
decisions about whether or not to accept LMO imports and for handling them in a safe
manner.
The Party of import makes its decisions in accordance with scientifically sound risk
assessments. The Protocol sets out principles and methodologies on how to conduct a risk
assessment. In case of insufficient relevant scientific information and knowledge, the Party
of import may use precaution in making their decisions on import. Parties may also take into
account, consistent with their international obligations, socio-economic considerations in
reaching decisions on import of LMOs.
Parties must also adopt measures for managing any risks identified by the risk assessment,
and they must take necessary steps in the event of accidental release of LMOs.
To facilitate its implementation, the Protocol establishes a Biosafety Clearing-House for
Parties to exchange information, and contains a number of important provisions, including
capacity-building, a financial mechanism, compliance procedures, and requirements for
public awareness and participation.

2. 2) The International Plant Protection Convention
(IPPC) is an international plant health agreement or treaty that aims to protect cultivated
and wild plants by preventing the introduction and spread of pests. International travel and
trade are greater than ever before. As people and commodities move around the world,
organisms that present risks to plants travel with them.
While the IPPC’s primary focus is on plants and plant products moving in international trade,
the convention also covers research materials, biological control organisms, germplasm
banks, containment facilities and anything else that can act as a vector for the spread of
plant pests — for example, containers, packaging materials, soil, vehicles, vessels and
machinery.
The IPPC places emphasis in three main areas of work: international standard setting,
information exchange and capacity development for the implementation of the IPPC and
associated international phytosanitary standards.
The IPPC was created in 1952 by member countries of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations. 177 governments have become contracting parties to
the IPPC.
By protecting plant resources from pests and diseases, the IPPC helps to:
1. Protect the environment from loss of species diversity.
2. Protect ecosystems from loss of viability and function as a result of pest invasions.
3. Protect industries and consumers from the costs of pest control .
4. Facilitate trade through Standards that regulate the safe movements of plants and plant
products.
3) The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is also known
as The International Seed Treaty
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was adopted
by the Thirty-First Session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations on 3 November 2001.
The Treaty aims at:

3. -recognizing the enormous contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the
world;
-establishing a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access
to plant genetic materials;
-ensuring that recipients share benefits they derive from the use of these genetic materials
with the countries where they have been originated.
Main Provisions:
•Multilateral system
The Treaty’s truly innovative solution to access and benefit sharing, the Multilateral System,
puts 64 of our most important crops – crops that together account for 80 percent of the
food we derive from plants – into an easily accessible global pool of genetic resources that is
freely available to potential users in the Treaty’s ratifying nations for some uses.
• Access and benefit sharing
The Treaty facilitates access to the genetic materials of the 64 crops in the Multilateral
System for research, breeding and training for food and agriculture. Those who access the
materials must be from the Treaty’s ratifying nations and they must agree to use the
materials totally for research, breeding and training for food and agriculture. The Treaty
prevents the recipients of genetic resources from claiming intellectual property rights over
those resources in the form in which they received them, and ensures that access to genetic
resources already protected by international property rights is consistent with international
and national laws.
Those who access genetic materials through the Multilateral System agree to share any
benefits from their use through four benefit-sharing mechanisms established by the Treaty.
•Farmers’rights
The Treaty recognizes the enormous contribution farmers have made to the ongoing
development of the world’s wealth of plant genetic resources. It calls for protecting the
traditional knowledge of these farmers, increasing their participation in national decision-
making processes and ensuring that they share in the benefits from the use of these
resources
•Sustainable use
Most of the world’s food comes from four main crops – rice, wheat, maize and potatoes.
However, local crops, not among the main four, are a major food source for hundreds of
millions of people and have potential to provide nutrition to countless others. The Treaty
helps maximize the use and breeding of all crops and promotes development and
maintenance of diverse farming systems.