Politicians, scientists and environmental campaigners are gathering in Montreal, Canada, this week for negotiations on a global deal to safeguard the planet’s dwindling biodiversity.
Some of those talks are expected to focus on how to protect the plants, animals and microbes whose genetic material is the foundation for life-saving medicines and a host of other products.
This issue is known as access and benefits sharing, and it is governed by an international accord - the Nagoya Protocol.
In Montreal, delegates at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, also known as COP15, will explore how to update the agreement for the coming decades.
In particular, they are slated to examine how marginalized communities, including Indigenous Peoples, can benefit from the often-lucrative therapeutics and cosmetics derived from resources on their land.
This is becoming an increasingly important question as rapid advances in genetic sequencing are leading to breakthroughs in a range of fields, from medicine to agriculture.
We sat down with Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director of the Law Division at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), to discuss benefits sharing and how the Montreal discussions could unfold.
When we talk about the benefits of genetic resources, what do we mean?
Patricia Kameri-Mbote (PKM):
Benefits may be monetary, such as royalties, or non-monetary, such as sharing of research results.
The benefits come from the appropriate access to genetic resources and the appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. This includes the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of knowledge, innovations, and practices of indigenous and local communities.
What international agreements cover access and benefits sharing?
PKM: The Convention on Biological Diversity governs the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. It has been ratified by 196 countries.
Another important Multilateral Environmental Agreement on access and benefits sharing is the Nagoya Protocol. The protocol provides greater legal clarity and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources.
Why is the protocol important?
PKM: It grants access to the genetic resources or traditional knowledge associated with these resources. Such access is granted with the understanding that the benefits will be equitably shared between the owner and the developer.
How does that work practically?
PKM: For example, there are many gene-rich developing countries, farmers, and indigenous and local communities that are providers of genetic resources. Many gene-poor developed or industrialized countries with highly developed biotechnology companies use genetic resources for commercial or research purposes. The use must be on mutually agreed upon terms and include the prior informed consent of the owners of genetic resources, like indigenous and local communities.
At the UN Biodiversity Conference, talks are expected to focus on advances in genetic sequencing. Those are allowing researchers to rapidly mine the genomes of plants, animals and other living things. Why is this an important issue to discuss?
PKM: Advances in research techniques have led to a proliferation of genetic information, which is increasingly difficult to track and trace. Genetic data are also held in a variety of public and private databases. Content from the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, for example, is transmitted to over 1,700 public databases and an unknown number of private ones. The Convention on Biological Diversity has acknowledged that all countries and stakeholders working with digital sequence information need legal clarity, certainty, simplicity, as well as collaboration.
Which countries have taken steps to implement the Nagoya Protocol and what have been the benefits?
UNEP, in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility and partners, has supported a number of countries to ratify the Nagoya Protocol and to strengthen their national legal and regulatory frameworks. Notable success stories can be found in Gabon, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Palau. Countries that have ratified the Nagoya Protocol have recorded enhanced legal certainty and transparency on procedures for access and benefit-sharing and improved monitoring of the use of genetic resources. Several benefits have been seen in the sustainable use of genetic resources, including biological, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical resources, as well as traditional medicines and related traditional knowledge.
What do those successes look like in action?
PKM: One of the longest-running case studies is the partnership between AstraZeneca and Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Between 1993 and 2007, the partnership centred on the collection of terrestrial and marine biodiversity from Queensland as well as Tasmania, China, India and Papua New Guinea. Significant benefits accrued to Griffith University, now one of the leading natural product discovery units in the world.
The issue of access and benefits sharing is expected to feature prominently at the UN Biodiversity Conference. How do you expect talks to unfold?
PKM: The UN Biodiversity Conference is important for discussions on access and benefits sharing under the Nagoya Protocol, and specifically on digital sequencing information. Delegates are due to make recommendations to the conference on how to address digital sequence information on genetic resources in the context of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Countries will also discuss the role, rights, and interests of indigenous and local communities, the research community, the private sector and civil society organizations in dealing with digital sequencing.
How do you think those talks should unfold?
PKM: Discussions on the definition of digital sequencing information must not be narrow. If a narrow definition is adopted at the international level, which would then be part of international environmental law, benefit-sharing may also be limited.
It is also extremely important that countries listen to the request from the providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
Countries should adhere to clearly defined access and benefit-sharing mechanisms. This includes the need for science-based access and benefits-sharing measures, including monetary and non-monetary benefits for the use of genetic resources.
Delegates would also be well served to develop a clearly defined global benefit-sharing mechanism to handle transboundary access and benefits-sharing measures and a global mutual benefit fund.
- See UNEP’s COP15 page for more information.
- Follow @UNBiodiversity and @UNEP on Twitter.
- See UNEP’s COP15 featured updates for latest news.
- Visit the official website of the UN Biodiversity Conference.
About COP15
From December 7-19 in Montreal, Canada, 196 governments will meet to strike a landmark agreement to guide global actions on biodiversity. The framework will need to lay out an ambitious plan that addresses the key drivers of nature loss and puts us on the path to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
