Debate on global genetic resources rounded off in Paris
Last week Paris was the venue of the 7th meeting of the Working Group for Access and Benefit Sharing, established under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The member states of the CBD discussed an international regime that will guarantee transparent rules of access to genetic resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their utilisation on a global scale. The parties to the CBD pledged to draw up and adopt this international legally binding system by 2010.
Under the CBD, genetic resources are understood as any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin that contains functioning genes of actual or potential value. Each member state of the CBD can define conditions of access to its genetic resources so as to ensure that its sovereign rights towards its own natural and genetic resources are not infringed.
The need for new international legislation exists mainly because of insufficient application of the requirements of the CBD by certain member states. Another reason is the growing pressure of developing countries, which often provide genetic resources, but later find it difficult to obtain an adequate share of revenue from successful commercial projects based on these resources.
The new international regime should strike a delicate balance between the interests of the developing and the developed countries, private commercial businesses, scientific and research centres, and also local inhabitants and communities; it should be practical, functional and shouldn’t become an excessive administrative burden for state authorities or for the private sector.
The Paris meeting has yielded the first complete proposals for international legislation in the field of access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilisation. Although for now the proposals only reflect the rich discussion and the interests of all the stakeholders, they already constitute a breakthrough and a success.
Another round of talks, which will look for compromise solutions to specific problems, will be held in Montreal, Canada, in November 2009.
Contact:
- Jakub Kašpar, spokesperson of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic
- tel.: +420 267 122 040, mobile: +420 724 175 927; e-mail: jakub.kaspar@mzp.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:32
