Ethical Seed Sourcing and the Use of Plant Germplasm – Culturally-Informed Community Seed (CICS) Pledge

USE THE CHECKLIST ON THE RIGHT TO HELP EVALUATE YOUR PRACTICES

I am informed by and collaborate with communities whose seeds I’m using for research or commercialization when I have no meaningful cultural or ancestral connections to the seeds’ place of origin.

I keep detailed records and operate with transparency about how I use seeds including how seeds move through my company, institution, or organization.

I implement protocols for ethics training for myself and/or anyone else in my company, institution, or organization who will be working with seeds.

I follow these protocols for use of all germplasm and seeds obtained from the USDA, other publicly funded collections, and/or acquired from private individuals or communities for plant breeding or commercial market purposes; and ensure all individuals I am responsible for do the same.

I obtain consent from and offer collaboration with stewards of seeds and/or their communities whenever possible for seeds not available in the commercial domain when working with those seeds for plant breeding purposes.

I am taking measures to improve my practices to ensure that seed acquisitions and other genetic material are collected or shared with informed consent and equitable agreements for compensation, rematriation, distribution, access, and/or usage.

I acknowledge that rules for reciprocity with an international community may have already been violated decades or centuries ago by my current government through extractive practices. If/When I use one-way germplasm import permits that are approved by my government and/or travel to global communities to collect seeds, I go beyond just giving gifts in exchange for seeds. I know this has been used to justify past resource exploitation so I collaborate with communities to identify additional methods for equitable exchange.

I implement protocols for cataloging and storage in tandem with correct cultural and community information.

I take measures to increase agency for communities I work with to make their own requests for genetic plant material from germplasm collections for preservation, food security and community-based plant breeding purposes.

I acknowledge that many perennial plants are culturally meaningful to regional or international communities and exist within specific ecosystems in a reciprocal relationship with humans and other living beings. I do not uproot these plants to plant them in the local ecosystem where I conduct seed work which may cause economic and/or ecological harm to the communities of origin or harm the integrity of my local ecosystem.

When harvesting perennial seeds from such locations, I follow protocols for ethical foraging to ensure I do not inhibit the survival of native plant populations.

I do not use destabilizing events as opportunities to extract or “save” resources to other countries which contributes to further instability through diminished food and seed sovereignty.

I support seed keepers to shelter in place and restore local seed systems during natural disasters and/or ongoing conflict, invasion, war, etc.