- The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is a pivotal piece of recent legislation, providing a route for the use of such resources for sustainable agriculture and food security. This book touches upon issues as international food governance and policy, economic aspects of food and seed trade, conservation and sustainable use of food and agricultural biodiversity, hunger alleviation, ecological concerns, consumer protection, fairness and equity across nations and between generations, plant breeding techniques and socio-economic benefits related to food local economies. Contents : Foreword / Shakeel Bhatti and Olivier De Schutter -- Introduction : A treaty to fight hunger : past negotiations, present situation and future challenges / José T. Esquinas-Alca´zar, Christine Frison and Francisco Lo´pez -- Overview of regional approaches : the negotiating process of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Appendix: Chairman's elements) / Fernando Gerbasi -- The African regional group : creating fair play between North and South / Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Elizabeth Matos and Godfrey Mwila -- The Asian regional group / Eng Siang Lim -- The European regional group : Europe's role and positions during the negotiations and early implementation of the international treaty / Bert Visser and Jan Borring -- The Latin American and Caribbean regional group : a long and successful process for the protection, conservation and enhancing of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture / Modesto Ferna´ndez Di´az-Silveira -- The Near East regional group : centring the diversity for unlocking the genetic potential / Javad Mozafari Hashjin -- The North American group : globalization that works / Brad Fraleigh and Bryan L. Harvey -- The South West Pacific regional group : a view from the Pacific Island countries and territories / Mary Taylor -- International non-governmental organizations : the hundred year (or so) seed war -- seeds, sovereignty and civil society -- a historical perspective on the evolution of 'the law of the seed' / Patrick Mooney -- International research centres : the consultative group on international agricultural research and the international treaty / Gerald Moore and Emile Frison -- The seed industry : plant breeding and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture / Anke van den Hurk -- Farmers' communities : a reflection on the treaty from small farmers' perspectives / Wilhelmina R. Pelegrina and Renato Salazar -- Gene bank curators : towards implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture by the Indian National Gene Bank / Shyam Kumar Sharma and Pratibha Brahmi -- Plant breeders : the point of view of a plant breeder on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture / José I. Cubero -- The Global Crop Diversity Trust : an essential element of the treaty's funding strategy / Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler -- Consumers : biodiversity is a common good / Cinzia Scaffidi -- Our heritage is our future : humankind's responsibility for food security / Cosima Hufler and Renè Lefeber -- An innovative and transparent option for royalty payment under the treaty : implementing Article 6.1 Crop-related modality of the standard material transfer agreement / Carlos M. Correa -- General conclusions : summary of stakeholders' views and suggestions to cope with the challenges in the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture / Christine Frison, Francisco López and José T. Esquinas-Alcázar -- Annex 1 : History, milestones and calendar of meetings of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture -- Annex 2 : Adoption and ratification process of the treaty and table of contracting parties by FAO regional groups -- Annex 3 : Overview of the main provisions of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture -- Annex 4 : Country case-study : Brazil's actions and reactions to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture / Lidio Coradin and Maria José Amstalden Sampaio -- Annex 5 : Some stories on the inception of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture / José Ramón López Pontillo and Francisco Martínez Gómez.