In 1983, at the 22nd session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), germplasm becomes a political football when, led by the Mexican delegation, a large bloc of Third World nations won a vote to place the world’s genetic resources under the auspices and jurisdiction of the FAO.

A FAO Conference broadened the Commission’s mandate in 1995 to cover all components of biodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture. The Commission is the only permanent intergovernmental body that specifically addresses biological diversity for food and agriculture. The Commission aims to reach international consensus on policies for the sustainable use and conservation of genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use.