The 11th Governing Body (GB) Session of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA, the Treaty) took place on the 24th – 29th November 2025, during which negotiations took place to discuss the draft text of the Treaty, including the key issues of conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, access and benefit-sharing, and the mechanisms governing the equitable exchange of these resources. In the sidelines of the negotiations, twenty-five side events were held organised by a range of actors including civil society, academia, the private sector, and governmental actors. A special exhibition on diversity in Peru was displayed in the building of the conference, organized jointly by the National Institute for Agricultural Innovation (INIA) and the International Potato Center (CIP), and hosting a rich and diverse selection of crops and varieties and local produce.
Featuring a diverse range of stakeholders, the side events provided a crucial opportunity for different perspectives and experiences to be heard and for participatory dialogue to be held. Oxfam Novib and the McKnight Foundation jointly held a side event ‘Exploring Policies to Promote & Strengthen Farmer-Managed Seed Systems’ (FMSS) featuring the International Community of Practice (CoP) for FMSS and the Andes CoP, in collaboration with several CSOs and academic institutions. Researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and country delegates attended and posed critical questions regarding the current legal and policy frameworks of several countries that had been presented as case studies, with a panel and Q&A session that delved into the tensions between economic and market pressures in seed markets and policies that allow for diversity. Download the report here.
