Since the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted in 1992, a new paradigm relating to the planet’s natural capital has emerged. Contrary to the widely accepted legal precept that biodiversity is a “common heritage of humanity”, individual States can now fully assert their exclusive entitlement to regulate and set up conditions for the access and use of their biodiversity, particularly their genetic resources through “access and benefit sharing” (ABS) regulations. The adoption of the CBD’s Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (Nagoya Protocol), detailing the ABS and compliance obligations relating to genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge (ATK), has only fortified this new ethos. The challenge now is how the Parties develop and implement the provisions of the Nagoya Protocol so that legal, regulatory and administrative measures contribute to and fulfil the objectives of the CBD while facilitating the emergence and scale up of BioTrade.
Biotrade and access and benefit-sharing: From concept to practice. A handbook for policymakers and regulators
Year: 2017
