Recommendation relating to the creation of an African phytogenetic resource bank

Jurisdiction
African Regional Bodies · African Union (AU)
Regional Body / Author
Pan-African Parliament
Date
11 April 2005
Language
English
Type
Recommendation
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African Union

Recommendation relating to the creation of an African phytogenetic resource bank

The Pan-African Parliament,1.RECALLING Articles 3(6) and 11(1-3) of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan African Parliament and Rule 5 of its Rules of Procedure authorizing the Pan-African Parliament to examine, debate, express opinion, offer advice and formulate resolutions on any matter relating to the African Union and its organs;2.NOTING the frequent food shortages in many parts of the African continent and the poor productivity, partly contributed by poor seed species available on the continent;3.AWARE of the large quantities of food imports into the continent, which illustrates the continent’s precarious food insecurity situation;4.CONSIDERING the importance of agriculture in the economies of African states and the need to preserve the rich phytogenetic heritage at the disposal of the continent;5.RECALLING the interest shown by the laboratories of developed countries in the phytogenetic resources of African countries, the efforts to export them illegally with a view of storing them in phytogenetic foreign banks, and their subsequent large scale reproduction with a view to marketing them in Africa;6.NOTING the genetic manipulations carried out by the laboratories of the large international seed firms on different plant species that are economically good for the production of genetically modified seeds (GMOs) and the large-scale marketing thereof in African countries, with all the risks that this implies for:► the phytogenetic heritage of African countries (pollution of the environment, extinction of plant species);► the dependence of farmers on seed firms;► the health of the African population which consumes products derived from genetically modified seeds;7.FURTHER NOTING the reticence of certain developed countries, especially European countries, as to the use of GMOs in their countries;
CALLS ON the Members of the African Union to reinforce their legislations relating to the dissemination, storage, marketing and utilization of plant material, in order to avoid:The depletion of their phytogenetic resources by the large seed companies;The introduction into their respective territories of genetically modified seeds (GMOs), which can become a source of ecological imbalance;Health problems which may arise from the consumption of products derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs);REQUESTS the African Union to create a data bank for the storage of the phytogenetic resources of the continent with a view to preserving plant species and reconstituting the vegetation cover in the event of major ecological disasters;URGES the African Union to promote agronomic research for the improvement of plant species and to create seed data banks based on improved species.
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