WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, Kyodo - More than 100 nations are set to sign an international treaty that will require plant breeders developing new crop varieties to donate funds for agricultural improvement, conservation, development and training in poor countries, according to a United Nations official. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture aims to preserve the diversity of food and agriculture as the Earth faces the extinction of a number of plant varieties amid environmental destruction.

The treaty, the result of roughly seven years of negotiations mainly under the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will be the first binding treaty to protect plant genetic resources, or plant heads, seeds and genes that could be used to develop new crops, the official told Kyodo News.

The treaty was endorsed at a FAO conference held in Rome earlier this month, with 116 votes in favor, abstentions by Japan and the United States, and no votes against, the official said.

Japan and the U.S. abstained due to concerns about the protection of intellectual property rights for newly developed crop varieties, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The treaty covers some 65 wild species and cultivated varieties, including rice, wheat, vegetables and cattle feeds, the official said.

The treaty stipulates each country's sovereignty on plant genetic resources and rights of farmers over such resources, while guaranteeing research and development for crop modifications.

It calls for the establishment of an international organization, through which businesses benefiting from development of new crop varieties based on genetic data on plants will donate part of their profits to the nations of origin.

The treaty also calls for drafting an international action program to preserve plant genetic resources and promote international research for preservation of such resources.

Negotiations over the treaty had pitted industrial nations against developing nations which have sought to protect their native plant and animal species from being plundered by wealthier nations.

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