ABSTRACT
The growth of regulatory regimes for agrobiodiversity at both the global and national levels is relatively recent. Indeed it is only a short while ago that the importance of biodiversity for agriculture, and the dangers of genetic erosion, was first realized at the international level. This chapter will describe the growth of this awareness and the regulatory machinery that has been developed in response. It will also describe the regulatory initiatives that have been taken at the international level to protect the intellectual property interests of breeders and the impact that this has had on agrobiodiversity. It will then look briefly at the ways in which these international regulatory regimes have been implemented at the national level.
