Search

User-measure requirements are the cornerstone of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity. These have come about as the result of hard, persistent pressure from developing countries on developed countries to take co-responsibility in making the access and benefit sharing regime functional. The degree of national implementation of the user measure requirements will thus be an important indicator of the success of the Nagoya Protocol. This report reviews these requirements and the situations as regards national implementation so far. It reviews the status and options for India in its implementation and notes some future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commissioned by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency the report provides an international review of the current situation in access and benefit sharing (ABS) related to genetic resources and the research needs in this field. The report concludes that even if an international ABS regime has been in place for more than 20 years, implementation at the national level has been slow both in terms of enacting access legislation and legislation to support compliance with access legislation. A fairly large amount of bioprospecting activities have been generated but - apparently - few with a commercial intent and thus with few examples and low amounts of monetary benefits. Research on ABS has mainly been theoretical and less research has been conducted on ABS in practice. Main research gaps are: 1) Actual and potential contribution of ABS to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; 2) ABS, equity and standard setting; 3) ABS beyond genetic resources; 4) Business approaches to ABS; 5) Mapping the value chain of genetic/biological material from its collection to an end product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]