Brazil’s latest seed deposit at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway highlights the country’s strategic role in global biodiversity preservation and food security.
Led by Embrapa, the initiative includes crops such as cashew, beans, peanuts, castor beans, and sesame, adding to the vault’s 1.38 million seed samples from over 5,000 species.
The strategic role of genetic banks
Seed banks like Svalbard serve as critical infrastructure to safeguard genetic resources against threats such as climate change, conflicts, and pests.
In this context, genetic resources are not only biological assets but also strategic and economic ones.
Biodiversity as an intellectual property asset
Brazil’s participation reinforces the growing intersection between biodiversity and intellectual property.
Genetic resources are essential for:
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Agricultural innovation;
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Biotechnological development;
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Creation of new products and industrial processes.
This raises key legal and strategic issues, including:
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Access and benefit-sharing (ABS);
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Plant variety protection;
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Biotechnology patents;
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Sovereignty over genetic resources.
Brazil’s global relevance
With over 8,000 deposited samples, Brazil stands out as a key global biodiversity player.
Its domestic infrastructure — including one of the largest genetic banks in Latin America — further demonstrates its technical capacity in conservation and research.
Implications for businesses
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Access to genetic diversity for innovation;
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Compliance with biodiversity regulations;
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Protection of derived assets (patents, plant varieties, know-how).
Foreign companies entering Brazil must navigate a complex but increasingly structured legal framework.
How Tavares IP can support
Navigating the intersection of biodiversity and IP requires specialized expertise.
Tavares IP supports companies in protecting innovations related to genetic resources, including patents, plant varieties, and regulatory strategies in Brazil.
