Decisions about intellectual property, particularly for plant life, have major implications for food security, agriculture, rural development, and the environment for every country in the world. For the developing world, in particular, the impact of intellectual property on farmers, rural societies, and biodiversity will be profoundly important. This book, a work in progress which contains highly diverse and opposed views from the group members, identifies and examines the major issues and the range of policy alternatives as bluntly and as fairly as possible.
`This book contains essential information that will enable all of us to understand the arguments and to make up our own minds about what should be done' - Julius Nyerere.