Potential and emerging impacts of the changing institutional landscape on the global exchange of genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA)

This project, funded by the USAID Bureau of Food Security, identified the potential and emerging impact of the Nagoya Protocol and other international policies on the global exchange and use of genetic resources for food, agriculture, and development. It was motivated by the simultaneous increase in demand for global research collaboration and the rise of institutional constraints over biological materials. Within this context, research programs and their donors can no longer assume that researchers or their collaborators have control over research inputs. It is entirely possible that even a funded research is stopped or must be fundamentally altered due to the inability of scientists to obtain biological materials or data. More broadly, it is likely that institutional constraints on research inputs have a strong and potentially detrimental influence on collaboration structures, selection of research questions and collaborators, research outputs and socio-economic impacts. These impacts are non-trivial for many developing countries. Research on the genetic improvement of food staple crops is estimated to have accounted for between 20 and 50 percent of total yield gains experienced in developing countries between 1960 and 2000, with additional contributions accounted for through increases in production. International collaborations among scientists and the unimpeded movement of germplasm between countries through the international agricultural research system were critical determinants of these gains. Many of these research investments have yielded higher returns than alternative uses of public resources earmarked for development, and led to significant increases in food security and incomes among the poor. The project focused on Feed the Future Innovation Labs, international collaborative research program on food, agriculture, and development, funded by USAID. 

Project activities included: (1) a case-based approach to assessing risks to access and use of GRFA relevant for regional or national donor investment strategies for development. The project undertook a multi-case crop-specific approach, based on interviews of key individuals in national agriculture research institutes, universities, government agencies and other stakeholder groups collaborating with Innovation Labs; (2) a global survey of the international agriculture research-for-development community. The survey targeted active researchers working in Innovation Labs supporting genetic resource research programs. 

The project addressed the following key questions: What kinds of barriers or challenges do scientists encounter when attempting to acquire materials? What administrative barriers do scientists experience? What are the perceived burdens associated with the use of MTAs and other exchange instruments? Do researchers have institutional support for exchange instruments, and if so, how do these instruments and their associated burdens influence research decisions? Do regulations result in a change of the types of material/data being exchanged? What kind of contingent resources or benefits are promised/expected as a result of exchange? How do agricultural genetic resources policies affect different sectors of agriculture – animals, plants, microbes and insects? Do GRFA policies affect the likelihood that agricultural research results in commercialization of discoveries? Do they affect research collaborations, processes and outcomes?

Project outputs:

• Fusi, F, Welch, E. W., & Siciliano, M. (2019). Barriers and Facilitators of Access to Biological Material for International Research: The Role of Institutions and Networks. Science and Public Policy, 46(2), 275-289.
• Welch, E. W., Taggart, G., Feeney, M. K., & Siciliano, M. (2019). Navigating the Labyrinth: Academic Scientists' Responses to New Regulatory Controls on Biological Material Inputs to Research. Environmental Science & Policy, 101, 136-146.
• Nijar, G. S., Louafi, S., & Welch, E. W. (2017). The Implementation of the Nagoya ABS Protocol for the Research Sector: Experiences and Challenges. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 17(5), 607-621.
• Yuille, M. M., Feller, P. I., Georghiou, L., Laredo, P., & Welch, E. W. (2017). Financial Sustainability of Biobanks: From Theory to Practice. Biopreservation and Biobanking, 15(2), 85-92.
• Welch, E. W., Fusi, F., Louafi, S., & Siciliano, M. (2017). Genetic Resource Policies in International Collaborative Research for Food and Agriculture: A Study of USAID-Funded Innovation Labs. Global Food Security, 15, 33-42.
• Seyoum, A., & Welch, E. W. (2015). Ex Post Use Restriction and Benefit-Sharing Provisions for Access to Non-Plant Genetic Materials for Public Research. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 37(4), 667-691.
• Blackburn, H. D., Plante, Y. V. E. S., Rohrer, G., Welch, E. W., & Paiva S. R. (2014). Impacts of Genetic Drift on Access and Benefit Sharing Under the Nagoya Protocol: The Case of the Meishan Pig. Journal of Animal Science, 92(4), 1405-1411.

• Welch, E. W., Shin, E., & Long, J. (2013). Potential Effects of the Nagoya Protocol on the Exchange of Non-Plant Genetic Resources for Scientific Research: Actors, Paths, and Consequences. Ecological Economics, 86, 136-147.