Concept note, Side-event proposal for CBD-COP17

Peasants’ Rights to Seeds and Contributions to Biodiversity

Co-conveners: The UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other people Working in Rural Areas (https://www.ohchr.org/en/specialprocedures/wg-peasants), Astrid Puentes Riano, the UN Special Rapporteur on right to a healthy environment (https://www.ohchr.org/es/special-procedures/sr-environment/ms-astrid-puentes-riano), La Via Campesina (https://viacampesina.org/en/) and other Civil Society Partners working in the field of the right to seeds.

1. Context

The Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), established in 2023 by Human Rights Council resolution 54/9,  and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to a Healthy Environment, established in 2012 by Human Rights Council Resolution 19/10, are co-convening this side event to clarify the content and scope of the right to seeds. The event will draw upon the Working Group's thematic report on the right to seeds, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in October 2026.

Seeds are foundational to food systems, biodiversity, culture, and rural livelihoods, serving as the starting point for food production. They are central to how peasants and Indigenous Peoples have developed, preserved, and transmitted agricultural knowledge adapted to diverse ecological conditions across generations. Seeds embody the genetic diversity necessary to enhance agricultural resilience against pests, diseases, environmental degradation, and climate variability. Beyond biological functions, seeds are linked to cultural heritage, social relations, and spiritual and ceremonial practices.

For peasants, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, fishers, and forest peoples globally, seeds are inseparable from livelihoods and autonomy. The ability to cultivate, harvest, save, exchange, and improve seeds underpins food security, income generation, self-determination, and the sustainability of rural communities. Peasant seed systems historically sustain diverse crop varieties adapted to local ecosystems, contributing to food sovereignty and nutrition.

UNDROP explicitly recognizes the right to seeds in article 19, affirming the right of peasants to save, use, exchange, and sell farm-saved seeds and propagating material. The realization of this right is interconnected with the right to food and food sovereignty (article 15), rights to land and natural resources (article 17), rights related to biodiversity (article 20), rights to conservation and protection of the environment (article 18), and the right to participation in decision-making processes (article 10). The right to seeds is intertwined with the right to a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. 

International frameworks, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), reinforce the protection of peasant seed systems and affirm Farmers’ Rights, equitable benefit-sharing, and the protection of traditional knowledge. Despite these frameworks, seed systems are increasingly shaped by restrictive seed laws, certification regimes, intellectual property protections, trade agreements, corporate concentration, and the digitalization of genetic resources. These developments raise concerns regarding the marginalization of traditional practices, the erosion of seed diversity, the misappropriation of traditional knowledge, and persistent inequalities, including gender-based and structural discrimination.

2. Objectives

The side event aims to address the following topics:

• The social, cultural, economic, and environmental significance of seeds, including their contribution to food security, livelihoods, biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
• Existing practices for cultivating, harvesting, saving, exchanging, sharing, and improving seeds.
• The distribution of roles and responsibilities related to seeds within communities, including among peasant women, men and youth.
• The effectiveness of national laws and policies governing the saving, use, exchange, and sale of peasant seeds, and measures for the protection of native and traditional varieties.
• The methods by which national legal and policy frameworks address the interests of peasants and rural communities in relation to commercial seed actors.
• The concrete impacts and reflection of international instruments (UNDROP, UPOV, CBD, and ITPGRFA) in national laws and policies.
• The primary challenges and threats faced in exercising the right to seeds, and the responses of communities, organizations, and authorities.
• The national, regional, and international mechanisms used to promote or defend the right to seeds, alongside their effectiveness and remaining protection gaps.

3. Methodology

The side event will be organized as an interactive dialogue bringing together the UN Working Group, UN Special Rapporteur, La Via Campesina and civil society actors.

The session will open with remarks from the co-conveners situating the discussion within the right to seeds for UNDROP rights holders, including peasants, pastoralists, forest peoples among others.

A moderated panel will follow.  Panellists will share the findings of research and a call for inputs for their report to the UN Human Rights Council on the right to seeds. This includes responses from almost 100 States, civil society organizations and academics.

The discussion will address the right to seeds in the context of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) Biodiversity Target 13: Access and Benefit Sharing. Panelists will give examples on how to take effective legal, policy, and administrative measures to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

The event will conclude with recommendations from the Working Group, Special Rapporteur, and best practices identified by civil society actors and others which were submitted to the Working Group through the call for inputs.

4. Expected Outcomes

Clear Mapping of Legal Contradictions

The event will identify where national laws and trade agreements (like intellectual property or corporate seed regimes) clash with human rights and peasant rights under UNDROP. This shows how trade commitments actively undermine community rights to save and share seeds.

Evidence of Policy Gaps and State Failures

The panel will give examples where governments are failing to protect native seeds and local practices, demonstrating how current policies can marginalize rural communities, and will draw attention to the vital role that peasant women and youth play in seed management.

Actionable Defense Strategies and Solutions

By sharing local practices and community responses, the discussion will produce practical recommendations for policy change. This gives advocates and states a blueprint to protect seed rights and food sovereignty, and show what a human-rights-based approach to seed management looks like.