Report of the Center Directors Committee to CGIAR International Centers Week 2000

Report of the Center Directors Committee (CDC) to CGIAR International Centers Week 2000. It described CDC interactions with TAC and the CBC leading to the Committee's proposal for a federation of Centers and ultimate endorsement of the report of the Synthesis Group. The CDC also endorsed the main recommendations of the Finance Committee Working Group on Long Term Financing and its proposed expansion of Future Harvest. It urged generalized use of the Future Harvest brand name.Updates were presented on the planned establishment of endowment fund for genebank maintenance, on the Gender and Diversity Program, and on the September meeting on Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) of six directors general and center INRM staff in Penang, Malaysia by the CDC Task Force. The Inter Center Working Group on Climate Change (ICW-CC) reported significant positive impacts of the green revolution on carbon sequestration, and discussed center projects for adaptation and mitigation measures linked with poverty reduction. The Committee unanimously passed a resolution urging that all main CGIAR crops be included in the International Undertaking on Genetic Resources. The CDC suspended work on updating its IPR guidelines because misinterpretations of the guidelines risked hampering the ongoing negotiation of the Undertaking, and issued a clarifying resolution. The text of this resolution is attached to the report of the meeting.