Balanced Options for Access and Benefit-Sharing: Stakeholder Insights on Provider Country Legislation.

Aysegul Sirakaya

doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.01175

Abstract

The over-arching aim of the access and benefit-sharing (ABS) of genetic resources is to enable fair distribution of benefits between the users (such as universities and biotech companies) and providers (such as biodiversity rich countries) so as to both open the doors for innovation and create incentives for biodiversity conservation. Access to genetic resources is crucial for research related to conservation of plant genetic resources as well as R&D for agricultural products and evolved crops that can attain to the new weather conditions climate change brings. Therefore, access to genetic resources in general as well as benefit-sharing from that access is a key element for sustainable development in order to secure research as well as environmental sustainability and resource availability. ABS is currently a rapidly developing and evolving field that is shaped by each and every implementation of the Parties. This means that the national implementation of the Parties determine how ABS goals are realised and how ABS principles find form within regulatory mechanisms. These principles are found in international legal documents such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as well as Nagoya Protocol. Additionally, decisions and guidelines drafted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity shape these principles that are then to be fulfilled by the Parties when drafting their ABS laws by means of implementing regulatory mechanisms that comply with the international law. This article reviews 20 provider country’s ABS frameworks as well as one regional law with the aim of identifying the common regulatory mechanisms that find place in these legal texts. This descriptive approach is then followed by an empirical comparative analysis through semi-structured stakeholder interviews in order to identify the most beneficial regulatory mechanisms according to ABS experts that belong in four different stakeholder groups (provider countries, academic users, industrial users and collections)

Highlights

Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) is a system under public international law that aims to fairly distribute benefits arising from genetic resources between the users of genetic resources and provider countries
Further specified within the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya Protocol, 2011)
These principles have to be implemented by the Parties when drafting their ABS laws by means of putting regulatory mechanisms in place which are in line with the international ABS goals

Summary

Introduction

Access and benefit-sharing (ABS) is a system under public international law that aims to fairly distribute benefits arising from genetic resources between the users of genetic resources (such as universities and biotech companies) and provider countries (regulatory authorities in biodiversityrich countries). The CBD and the Nagoya Protocol, together with the decisions of the Parties thereof, establish the international ABS goals. These goals have been explored in a previous study by the author (Sirakaya, 2019). ABS is a rapidly evolving field that is shaped by the implementation of the Parties to the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol. This means that the national implementation of these countries determines how ABS goals are realized and how ABS principles find form within regulatory mechanisms. How provider countries regulate ABS directly shapes the way ABS principles are implemented

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