This book is the first wide-ranging guide to the key issues of intellectual property and ownership, genetics, biodiversity and food security. Proceeding from an introduction and overview of the issues, comprehensive chapters cover negotiations and instruments in the World Trade Organization, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and various other international bodies. The final part discusses the responses of civil society groups to the changing global rules, how these changes affect the direction of research and development, the nature of global negotiation processes and various alternative futures.
Published with IDRC and QIAP.
Preface * Part I: A Changing Food System * Food, Farming and Global Rules * Part II: The Key Global Negotiations and Agreements * Turning Plant Varieties into Intellectual Property: The UPOV Convention * Bringing Minimum Global Intellectual Property Standards into Agriculture: The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) * Promoting and Extending the Reach of Intellectual Property: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) * Safeguarding Biodiversity: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) * Giving Priority to the Commons: The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) * The Negotiations Web: Complex Connections * Part III: Responses, Observations and Prospects * Responding to Change * Postcards from International Negotiations * Global Rules, Local Needs * Glossary * Index
