Center for Agriculture and Food Systems issue brief
This issue brief defines digital sequence information (DSI) and maps the international governance landscape for plant genetic resources, focusing on how DSI challenges existing access and benefit sharing (ABS) and intellectual property frameworks. It explains the technical and policy complexities of DSI—its varied definitions, difficulty of tracing and valuing sequences, and tensions between open-access research and obligations to providers—and summarises core international instruments and institutions involved, including TRIPS/WIPO, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Nagoya Protocol, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), and UN declarations on Indigenous and peasants’ rights. The brief outlines recent policy responses, notably the CBD-endorsed non-binding “Cali Fund” multilateral approach and ongoing ITPGRFA deliberations, and discusses implications for U.S. researchers and gene banks (including NPGS participation in the ITPGRFA multilateral system). It concludes that DSI exacerbates preexisting tensions between open science and sovereign control, that many key decisions remain unresolved (mandates, fund distribution, crop scope), and that these unresolved debates materially affect how benefits and responsibilities for plant genetic data will be governed globally.
Key topics: digital sequence information, access and benefit sharing, CBD, ITPGRFA, Cali Fund, plant genetic resources, intellectual property
