02/05/2022

Newest member brings total to 149 Contracting Parties 

Rome, Italy, 2 May 2022 – The Dominican Republic becomes the 149^th Contracting Party of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture today, 90 days after depositing its instrument of accession with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

“We are delighted to welcome the Dominican Republic to our growing global community committed to saving, sharing and taking care of the seeds of the plants that feed the world,” said Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of the International Treaty. “Joining the International Treaty gives the Dominican Republic the right to benefit from the Treaty’s Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing^[1], other global mechanisms of the International Treaty, as well as a seat and decision-making voice at the upcoming Ninth Session of the Governing Body, scheduled to take place in New Delhi, India, in mid-September 2022,” he added.

The Dominican Republic lies in the West Indies with the Caribbean to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. It spans almost 48 760 km2 with rugged highlands and mountains interspersed with fertile valleys, and has several climatic zones and types of vegetation. The diversity of native plant genetic resources is an essential part of the heritage and natural wealth of the Dominican Republic. Major crop production includes bananas, cassava, maize, red beans, rice, plantain, potato, pulses and tropical fruit trees. However, much of the biodiversity is unique to the country, and the primary threat to the loss of diversity is the disappearance of habitats, particularly forest zones. Therefore, in situ conservation and the study of crop wild relatives are an important part of the national genetic resources conservation strategy.

The Dominican Research Institute Agricultural and Forestry (IDIAF) oversees the domestic conservation and documentation of plant genetic resources. The country conserves national and foreign germplasm, including old cultivars and advanced lines, including germplasm collections that bring together introduced/cultivated species and native species.

Joining the International Treaty provides the Dominican Republic additional global mechanisms to promote technical and scientific exchange with public and private institutions in regional and international crop networks.

The Dominican Republic is also a member of a number of other international agreements, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, and the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

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