ABSTRACT
The chapter is about ‘open source seeds’ as an alternative. It discusses the concept of a ‘protected commons’ as an alternative to how the language of ‘access’ has been extended to international politics dealing with seeds and plant materials. Alongside commons theory and its ability to examine the ineffective mechanisms of open access commons that continue to be consolidated, the chapter discusses the language of ‘open source’ as a simple, elegant and inclusive solution that has begun to be used by alliances and networks of farmers, public breeders, small seed companies, community-based seed distribution and others.
