FAO Plant Treaty multilateral system and benefit-sharing fund
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Under the Plant Treaty's Multilateral System, 116,763 standard material transfer agreements had been signed by 1 January 2025, while a Third World Network account says only 5 or 6 of more than 25,000 recipients made monetary contributions. Negotiators in Lima in 2025 did not agree on expanding the system.
Third World Network, July 2025, on standard material transfer agreements signed up to 1 January 2025.
Status As of the Lima session at the end of 2025: expansion of the Multilateral System not agreed; payment, Annex I and DSI deferred to the next session.
- Recipients of genebank material under SMTAs — Access to material; payment required only if the product is not available to others for research. Third World Network
What happened
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Plant Treaty) operates a Multilateral System that covers 35 food crops and 29 forage crops. Genebank material is supplied under a standard material transfer agreement (SMTA). A Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) receives payments.
According to FAO's 2025 report, 116,763 SMTAs had been signed by 1 January 2025, with providers in 69 countries and recipients in 189 countries, an average of 17 SMTAs a day.
Third World Network wrote in July 2025 that payment under the SMTA is required only if the product is not available to others without restriction for research, and that of more than 25,000 recipients only 5 or 6 made monetary contributions. It reported that the BSF had received about $30 million since 2009, more than 97% of it voluntary and about 90% from governments.
At the Governing Body's eleventh session in Lima, held at the end of 2025, a package to expand the Multilateral System was not agreed. Payment, the list of covered crops (Annex I) and digital sequence information (DSI) were deferred to the twelfth session. Down To Earth reported that the Global North wanted to expand Annex I and prevent mandatory DSI payments, and that the Global South rejected the consensus text. Third World Network reported proposed payment rates ranging from 0.01% to 0.5% of seed sales and a best case for an expanded system of about $7 million a year.
- 2009Benefit-sharing Fund begins collecting; about $30 million received since
- 2025By 1 January: 116,763 SMTAs signed; Third World Network reports 5–6 paying recipients (10 July)
- 2025Governing Body session in Lima fails to agree on expanding the Multilateral System; payment, Annex I and DSI deferred to the next session
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
0.01% of a company's seed sales.
Third World NetworkWanted to expand Annex I and prevent mandatory DSI payments, according to Down To Earth.
Down To EarthRejected the consensus text, according to Down To Earth.
Down To EarthHow it looked
Shown
Recorded
- 116,763 SMTAs signed by 1 January 2025; providers in 69 countries, recipients in 189 countries; average 17 SMTAs a day
- More than 25,000 recipients; 5–6 made monetary contributions
- Payment proposals for an expanded system: 0.01% of seed sales (North America) to 0.5% (Latin America); best case about $7 million a year
- Lima Governing Body session: expansion package not agreed; payment, Annex I and DSI deferred
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Accounts
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the first user payment to the fund came in 2018 from Nunhems, $119,083, about 0.77% of its sales of 10 vegetable varieties in the United States.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: six seed companies contributed $824,680 in total, 89% of it from one firm (summary of a Centre for Science and Environment briefing).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: an earlier package to expand the Multilateral System also failed in 2019.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the ratio of paying recipients to SMTAs signed (about 0.005%) was calculated for this record, not stated by a source.
- Not measured No independent evaluation of where Benefit-sharing Fund money was spent is recorded in the sources reviewed.
- None on record No court case is recorded in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Who paid?
The sources reviewed record that the Benefit-sharing Fund is funded more than 97% by voluntary contributions and about 90% by governments; payment by seed users under the SMTA is required only when the product is not available to others for research.
Sources
Government and regulators
Press and investigations
- The 11th session of the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA concluded in Lima, PeruVision IAS · 2025-12-01
Communities and civil society
- Plant Treaty: South should beware of short selling seed collections to save 'Gene Bank Relevance'Third World Network · 2025-07-10