This paper, discusses the access and benefit-sharing (ABS) agreements established by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Convention on Biological Diversity, or the Nagoya Protocol. In doing so, Susan H. Bragdon argues that ABS regimes are, and will continue to be, insufficient for generating the benefit necessary to support the innovative activities of small-scale farmers in conserving, managing, and actively developing the majority of the world’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA). After a thorough discussion on why small-scale farmers and PGRFA on-farm and in situ are critical to food and nutrition security and to the resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems, she goes on to maintain that a rights-based approach supported by governments nationally and internationally open broader possibilities of predictable, stable support. She concludes by noting that increased private sector interest in agriculture and food systems is reason for equally vibrant governments acting in the public interest.
Plastic Money: Turning Off the Subsidies Tap (Phase 3 – Briefing Note for INC 5.2)
This briefing note by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) and Eunomia Research & Consulting presents the preliminary findings from the third phase of our “Plastic Money” initiative. Released in August 2025 to coincide with the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on Plastic Pollution, this work continues our effort to bring clarity and evidence to the global discourse on plastic subsidies. Building on the insights and modelling from Phase 1 and Phase 2, this latest study expands the scope of analysis to include not only feedstock and energy subsidies but also a wider range of government support measures. These include capital investment grants, in-kind benefits, tax expenditures, and various forms of below-market financing. The study provides updated global estimates for such subsidies and models the environmental and economic implications of their removal. As governments work toward a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty, the role of public financial flows—including subsidies to the production of primary plastic polymers (PPP)—has come under increasing scrutiny. Subsidies reduce production costs, incentivise new investment, and help make virgin fossil-based polymers more competitive than recycled plastics and competing alternative or substitute materials. In doing so, they reinforce a linear and extractive economic model […]