Property rights, collective action and plant genetic resources

Genetic resources are the genetic material in plants and animals that determine useful traits that people can conserve, characterise, evaluate and use to meet their needs. These resources are not simply the genes encoded in DNA, but particular expressions of the genes that farmers, scientists and plant breeders have recognised and selected. Research has estimated that the value of increases in crop yields derived from new genes and genetic modification since 1945 has amounted to about US$115 billion a year worldwide. Conservation of genetic resources contributes to plant genetic diversity..