Multilateral benefit-sharing from digital sequence information will support both science and biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Open access to sequence data is a cornerstone of biology and biodiversity research, but has created tension under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Policy decisions could compromise research and development, unless a practical multilateral solution is implemented.Here, we lay out a framework for use of digital sequence information (DSI) that enables fair benefit-sharing, ensures open access to sequence data, strengthens biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and leverages genomics and bioinformatics for international capacity-building. As Parties to the CBD meet again in-person in the coming months to negotiate the Global Biodiversity Framework, they must apply pragmatic, multilateral solutions to DSI that improve rather than impede global biodiversity targets.The ability to decode and digitally archive DNA has revolutionized the life sciences and related fields. Sequence data, referred to as digital sequence information (DSI) in policy

Introducing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived occurrence data through biodiversity data platforms

“…immediately available (Nilsson et al 2019). Each of these benefits provides a strong rationale for professionals to adopt the practices outlined in this guide, helping them to highlight a significant proportion of biodiversity, speed up its discovery and formal description, and integrate it into biological conservation and policymaking (Scholz et al 2022). Biology is perhaps a field that has been slow to fully adopt the concepts of data publishing and reuse, but we hope that the present guide will contribute to the popularisation and perhaps standardisation of new biological data types.…”

The Case for Community Self-Governance on Access and Benefit Sharing of Digital Sequence Information

“…As policy options are considered for how to address DSI in the context of existing ABS mechanisms, including the NP, the implementation framework for each option must be reviewed to assess potential impacts on future technological developments and biodiversity conservation. Policies must preserve open access to DSI for noncommercial intended research, enable international collaboration, be practical, efficient and cost effective to implement, ensure legal certainty, and account for both monetary and nonmonetary benefits; see Scholz et al ( 2022 ) for a recently proposed multilateral mechanism that decouples DSI access from benefit-sharing and addresses these concerns. The scientific community recognizes that the responsible, open availability of DSI democratizes biological research, biodiversity conservation, and innovation.…”

Digitising biopiracy? The global governance of plant genetic resources in the age of digital sequencing information

“…In other words, without a multilateral system, national protectionism would limit access to and the use of genetic resources and, most importantly, the interdependence of conserving genetic biodiversity (Scholz et al. 2022 ). Thus, efforts were undertaken to treat plant genetic resources as a shared global heritage rather than under the principle of national sovereignty.…”