Since 2000s, Africa and India severally rejected the notion that UPOV's 1991 standard of Plant Breeders Rights (PBRs) is the only route to fulfill their obligations under Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement. Objecting to the exclusive focus of the UPOV regime on formal plant breeders, African...

This article examines the international legal framework in which traditional farmers and agricultural biotechnology (agro-biotech) protect their knowledge and plant genetic resources. Traditional farms and agro-biotech both play significant roles in enhancing global food security and...

According to regime theory, inequities in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has provided a catalyst for counter-regime dynamics against TRIPS and the greater international intellectual property system (IIPS). The post-TRIPS regime analyses of the IIPS...

Less developed countries, especially those in Africa, are buffeted by a complex combination of factors in their bid to realize the right to adequate food pursuant to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Integral to that right are the ideas of freedom from hunger,...

The Chapter outlines the historical interdependence in the sourcing of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture within the global food system and food supply. It identifies a combination of technological factor endowments, private sector activism, corporate concentration, intellectual...

We propose a ‘data commons', formed through a licensing model that allows farmers to benefit from the datasets to which they contribute. Agricultural data is globally recognized for its importance in addressing food insecurity. This data is generated and used by a value chain of contributors,...