Fair and Equitable Benefit-Sharing: History, Normative Content and Status in International Law

Abstract

This entry will discuss the widespread diffusion of the concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing in different areas of international environmental law (notably, but not limited to, biodiversity) and its linkages with international human rights law. It will then suggest that notwithstanding different articulations of benefit-sharing in different areas of international law, a common normative core can be identified on the basis of converging interpretative materials. The entry will conclude by discussing the status of fair and equitable benefit-sharing in international law and identifying outstanding research questions.