On Farmers’ Right In International Protection Of Agricultural Biodiversity

This dissertation mainly discusses about the issue of farmers’ rights. It starts with the emergence and the historical development of the concept. Then the dissertation analyses and goes deeply to the international treaties which are related to farmers’ rights protection, and discusses the contents and features of this concept. The protection’s scope and methods in international treaties have some shortages, so researchers and scholars all over the world are starting to explore other methods which can protect farmers’ rights more efficiently and effectively, and prevent the shortages appeared in international treaties. Finally, the dissertation applies the "open source license" model to China and analyses the model’s feasibility in China.Besides introduction and conclusion parts, this dissertation has three chapters. In the first chapter, some related terms and concepts have been clarified at first and the historical background of the farmers’ rights’ emergence is introduced in this part. This chapter mainly shows the development of farmers’ rights. Since farmers’ rights do not have any fixed definition, different versions of the definition are introduced and the author delivers her opinion of it and then discusses why the definition should be formed in that way and the important significance of protecting farmers’ rights. It is one of the intellectual property rights contentions between developed countries and developing countries. Developing countries put forward the concept of "farmers’ rights" and request to share the benefit derived from the exploitation of agricultural plant genetic resources (PGR). They attempt to eliminate the unfairness generated by the intensification of intellectual property rights. The issue of farmers’ rights reflects the benefit divarication as to IPR protection between breeders and farmers, and between developed countries and developing countries. Even though the farmers rights theory is very infant now, but it has been recognized by the international society and fixed in many treaties.In chapter two, four international treaties are being introduced and analyzed thoroughly. Those treaties are:ITPGRFA, CBD, TRIPS and UPOV1978and1991. This dissertation goes very deep to every treaty’s formation background, process and all articles related to farmers’rights, from which the author analyzes the potential deficiencies arising from the treaty.Based on prior chapters, chapter three explores other methods of protect farmers’ rights which are recently coming into focus in the international society. This part is very creative in this dissertation because this topic has not been deeply discussed in China. Because of the limitations of international treaties mentioned above, some scholars, researchers and NGOs start to find other effective ways to protect and implement farmers’ rights. Their goal is to obtain a system which not only can interact well with current farmers’rights system but also can continually coexist with the intensification of intellectual property rights. Five models have been adopted to solve the problem:(1)"Public Domain" Model (2)"Trust" Model (3)"Commercial Use" Model (4)"Private Property" Model and (5)"Open Source License" Model. After careful comparison, the fifth model-"Open Source License" model is the most effective and practical way to implement farmers’ rights. This Chapter then discusses this model from its formation, legal basis and feasibility. After that, the author applies this model in current China to see if this model can operate well with current Chinese system.In the conclusion section, the dissertation sums up all the important discussions mention above and makes clear the significance of protection farmers’ rights. Even though the theory is infant now and the protection system is not perfect, having farmers rights with an international legal basis will be an irreversible trend. If we have faith in and take measures to develop the theory, Farmers’ rights are not looked as political or moral rights. Farmers’ rights will be implemented well as a kind of legal rights.