TWN Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
24 November 2025
Third World Network

Dear friends,

New Briefing Paper: Seed Treaty’s MLS enhancement package risks legitimizing biopiracy and inequity

We are pleased to announce the release of a new TWN Briefing Paper, "Seed Treaty’s MLS enhancement package risks legitimizing biopiracy and inequity", by TWN senior researcher Nithin Ramakrishnan. This paper critically analyzes a draft package of measures to enhance the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing (MLS) under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also known as the Seed Treaty). The package is being considered by the 11th session of the Treaty's Governing Body taking place in Lima, Peru, on 24-29 November 2025. According to the paper, this proposed "enhancement" threatens instead to widen the gap between, on the one side, access to seeds and other plant material for food and farming, and, on the other side, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from such access. The measures proposed would undermine accountability and transparency of access and benefit sharing, and further erode the already fragile rights of farmers in developing countries over the genetic resources they have cultivated for centuries, as well as national sovereignty over those resources.
 
With best wishes,
Third World Network