As climate change hits crops, debate heats up over use of plant gene data

ROME: Rich andpoor countries are at loggerheads over how to share benefits from genetic plantdata that could help breed crops better able to withstand climate change, asnegotiations to revise a global treaty are set to resume in Rome tomorrow. Thelittle-known agreement is seen as crucial for agricultural research anddevelopment on a planet suffering rising hunger, malnutrition and the impactsof climate change.

"We need allthe 'genetics' around the world to be able to breed crops that will adapt toglobal warming," said Sylvain Aubry, a plant biologist who advises theSwiss government. Rising temperatures, water shortages and creeping desertscould reduce both the quantity and quality of food production, including staplecrops such as wheat and rice, scientists have warned.

The debate over"digital sequence information" (DSI) has erupted as the cost ofsequencing genomes falls, boosting the availability of genetic plant data,Aubry said. "A lot of modern crop breeding relies on these datatoday," he added. At the same time, the capability of machines to processvast amounts of that data to identify special crop traits such as diseaseresistance or heat tolerance has grown.

Pierre duPlessis, an African technical advisor on treaty issues, said companies andbreeders can use DSI to identify the genetic sequence of a desired plant traitand send it by e-mail to a gene foundry that prints and mails back a strand ofDNA. "Then you use gene-editing technology to incorporate that strand intoa plant. So you have created a new variety without accessing the trait inbiological form," he said. That process could enable businesses tocircumvent the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food andAgriculture which stipulates that the benefits derived from using material fromspecies it covers - including money and new technology - must be shared.

Developingstates, which are home to many plant species such as maize and legumes used inbreeding, hope to add digital sequence information to the treaty's scope. Thiswould force companies and breeders that develop new commercial crops from thatdata to pay a percentage of their sales or profits into a fund now managed by theUnited Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The fund's resourcesare used to conserve and develop plant genetic resources - the basis of thefoods humans eat - so that farmers, particularly in the developing world, cancope better with a warming climate.

Most wealthynations, which are generally more active in seed production, argue digitalinformation on plant genetics should be available to use without an obligationto share benefits. "There's almost no one still doing the old-fashioned, 'let'stry it and see' breeding. It's all based on the understanding of genome and alot of CRISPR gene editing creeping in," said du Plessis.

CRISPR is atechnology that allows genome editing in plant and animal cells. Scientists sayit could lead to cures for diseases driven by genetic mutations orabnormalities, and help create crops resilient to climate extremes. Butdeveloping nations and civil society groups such as the Malaysia-based ThirdWorld Network say companies that develop new crop varieties using thisinformation could lock access to their critical traits using intellectualproperty rights.

Science fiction?

The treaty rowemerged in late October when representatives of governments, the seed industry,research organizations and civil society attended a meeting at FAO headquartersin Rome. Negotiations have been going on for more than six years to update thetreaty, which came into force in 2004 and governs access to 64 crops and forageplants judged as key to feeding the world. Last month, the United States,Canada, Australia, Japan and Germany rejected a proposal from the co-chairs ofthe talks to include "information, including genetic sequence data"in the treaty's provisions on benefit-sharing. Africa, India, Latin America andthe Caribbean pushed back but the meeting ended without a compromise, whichnegotiators now hope to secure before the treaty's governing body meets on Nov.11.

The InternationalSeed Federation, a body representing the $42-billion seed industry, says plantbreeding still requires the use of physical material and it is too early to setthe rules on genetic data. "Developing policy based on speculation and onthings that are bordering on scientific fiction doesn't seem wise," saidThomas Nickson, who attended the Rome talks for the federation. "It iscritical to have the information publicly available, especially for smallcompanies in developing countries," he added.

But EdwardHammond, an advisor to Third World Network, said small farmers needed support,and open access to plant data should not mean a "no-strings-attachedfree-for-all". "Resilience to climate change is being grown in thefields," he said. "Interesting and new varieties are appearing in thefields as they adapt. This is not coming from companies using new seeds."

'Unfair system'

Kent Nnadozie,secretary of the treaty, said if it were agreed the genetic data should befreely available, it would be mostly developed countries that had the capacity,resources and technology to put it to use. "The fear is that (this)perpetuates and reinforces an unfair system or... amplifies it," he said.

Concerns overincreasing privatization and monopolization of food crops - which experts saythreaten agricultural biodiversity - played a role in the treaty's origins.

Its aim was tobuild a multilateral approach to access and exchange plant resources, with"fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their use"as a means to address historical imbalances between farmers and seed companies.While breeders and seed firms rarely pay for the knowledge and geneticresources they source from farmers and indigenous peoples, farmers usually haveto buy the seeds of the improved crop varieties businesses produce and sell.

So far, more than5.4 million samples of plant genetic resources have been transferred under thetreaty between governments, research institutes and the private sector in 181countries, its secretariat said. A large majority of those transfers areimproved materials from CGIAR, the global agricultural research network, topublic-sector research organizations in developing countries tackling foodsecurity issues, said Michael Halewood, head of policy at BioversityInternational, a CGIAR centre.

"Countriesaround the world have always been interdependent on crop genetic resources.Climate change is making us all more interdependent than ever on thoseresources," he said. - Reuters