Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) systems are based on a transactional approach to facilitating the exchange of genetic resources and funding their conservation. They are a very reasonable attempt to ensure uninhibited access to the resources upon which we are so globally interdependent, and at the same time achieve greater equity between ‘users’ and ‘providers’ of these resources. ’Users’ are generally technology-rich, developed countries and ‘providers’ are generally biodiversity-rich, developing countries.
However, ABS systems have not functioned in practice as hoped. This paper argues that, for a number of reasons, ABS systems will continue to be insufficient for generating the benefits necessary to support small-scale farmers in conserving plant genetic resources. While access remains critical, linking it to benefit-sharing has created false hopes as to the monetary benefits that will be generated and shared. There is a need to think beyond and bigger than ABS and adopt complementary measures for supporting small-scale farmers. In particular, an endowment fund similar to that of the Crop Trust, which funds public international ex situ gene banks, is needed to support the work of small-scale farmers in actively managing the majority of the world’s plant genetic resources in situ.