Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society

The Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2009 as a network to advocate on issues related to plant breeders' rights, peasants and farmers’ rights, food sovereignty, and the sustainable management of agricultural biodiversity. APBREBES has the status of observer to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society

Abbreviation	APBREBES
Formation	2009; 16 years ago (2009) Bonn, Germany
Type	International NGO
Purpose	Environmentalism, peace
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Region served	Worldwide
Website	apbrebes.org

Background

In 2009, seven NGOs joined to create the APBREBES: the Center for International Environmental Law, Community Technology Development Trust, Development Fund (Norway), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, Public Eye, Southeast Asia Regional Initiative for Community Empowerment, and Third World Network.

The association's main focus are the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The network is also an important critique of the implementation of the UPOV system of plant breeders' rights. APBREBES emphasises equitable access to plant genetic resources and ensures that legal frameworks respect human rights and environmental sustainability.

The association is active mostly at the UPOV, although it also occasionally work at the national or regional level, such as in Africa and elsewhere. In 2015, APBREBES developed guidelines for alternative to the UPOV system for developing countries' plant variety protection laws.

References

1. Union of International Associations (2024). "Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society | UIA Yearbook Profile". uia.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
2. APBREBES. "Farmers' Seed Systems – Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society". ECHOcommunity. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
3. UPOV (2024). "Observateurs auprès des organes de l'UPOV (dernière mise à jour: 4 avril 2024)" (PDF).
4. APBREBES. "Member organisations". apbrebes.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
5. Peschard, Karine; Randeria, Shalini (2020-06-06). "'Keeping seeds in our hands': the rise of seed activism". The Journal of Peasant Studies. 47 (4): 613–647. doi:10.1080/03066150.2020.1753705. ISSN 0306-6150.
6. De Jonge, Bram; Louwaars, Niels P.; Kinderlerer, Julian (2015). "A solution to the controversy on plant variety protection in Africa". Nature Biotechnology. 33 (5): 487–488. doi:10.1038/nbt.3213. ISSN 1546-1696. PMID 25965755.
7. Jehu-Appiah, Ali-Masmadi (2015-06-29). "Seed Freedom! A last chance to thwart the great African seed grab". theecologist.org. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
8. Titilayo (2023-07-20). "Safeguarding Food Sovereignty, Farmers' Rights and Farmer Managed Seed Systems: Plant Variety Protection and Seed Laws in Southern and East Africa". Flora IP. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
9. Schalk, Owen (2023). "Venezuela's Seed Law should be a global model". Canadian Dimension. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
10. Correa, Carlos M. (2015). Plant Variety Protection in Developing Countries: A Tool for Designing a Sui Generis Plant Variety Protection System: An Alternative to UPOV 1991 (PDF). Bern: Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES).