The future of information under the CBD, Nagoya Protocol, Plant Treaty, and PIP Framework

Abstract

The United Nations’ Convention of Biological Diversity (and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations’ International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the World Health Organisation of the United Nations’ (WHO) Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework all set out schemes for access and benefit sharing (ABS) some biological materials. This article addresses the apparent conflict between the general obligations in these agreements to disclose and exchange information and dealing with information as a resource derivative within the ABS transaction. This latter dealing is a closed domain for information under the ABS schemes where information is a resource derivative that is a part of the ABS transaction. Treating information as a resource derivative within the ABS transaction is likely to impose unnecessary and inefficient burdens on ABS transactions. After reviewing the recent developments, the article postulates a risk framework for valuing information as a part of the ABS transaction, or alternatively, a charge, tax, or levy to externalize the costs so that information remains available to be disclosed and exchanged promoting more and better science and research.

A Critical Review of the Current Global Ex Situ Conservation System for Plant Agrobiodiversity. II. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Current System and Recommendations for Its Improvement

“…Free-for-all access to sequence information (and associated germplasm) is considered by biodiverse countries to be mainly beneficial for user countries and the biotechnology industry and is seen as counterproductive for provider countries, their local communities, and indigenous people who are the custodians of plant agrobiodiversity and who will not be able to benefit if access to DSI is not subject to ABS regulations of prior informed consent (PIC) and mutually agreed terms (MAT) under the Nagoya Protocol of the CBD [ 172 ]. Discussions on the current and future access to digital sequence information are currently ongoing under the Plant Treaty, CBD, Nagoya Protocol, and the multilateral Prepared Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework as reviewed by Lawson et al [ 173 ]. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which governs international waters and the deep sea, is also developing a new multilateral treaty with the aim to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction [ 174 ].…”

“…To solve this contentious issue, Lawson et al [ 173 ] proposed two options: (i) a risk framework matrix for valuing information as part of the ABS transaction by attributing an estimated worth to a particular kind of information; (ii) a charge, tax, or levy that would allow externalizing the costs so that information would remain available to be disclosed and exchanged in support of the scientific community. Based on the matrix, passport data on accessions would be considered as of low value, without restrictions (public domain data), while descriptive (phenotypic) data would be treated as restricted public access data, and sequence data would have a time limit restriction with the requirement for reporting the results obtained to the germplasm/DNA provider.…”

“…For 12 consecutive years, Norway has made an annual contribution to the benefit-sharing fund of the International Treaty, an amount that is equivalent to 0.1 per cent of the value of seed and plant material traded in agriculture in Norway every year [ 177 ]. The tax or levy option avoids the high ABS transaction costs required to negotiate the value of information in every single transaction and allows the scientific community to disclose and share the generated information freely [ 173 ].…”

The international political process around Digital Sequence Information under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2018–2020 intersessional period

“…Although the focus of this article is on the DSI-CBD intersection, several other international organizations and instruments are currently discussing the governance of DSI and whether DSI should be regulated (Lawson et al, 2019;Smyth et al, 2020). All pathogens (except pandemic influenza, which is handled within a specialized instrument under Art.…”

Survey of access and benefit-sharing country measures accommodating the distinctive features of genetic resources for food and agriculture and associated traditional knowledge

“…the CBD, the Nagoya Protocol and Plant Treaty) and their implementation constituted the most common focus (73 percent) of articles at all geographic scales (e.g. Lawson et al, 2019a;Wang et al, 2019). Many publications discussed these agreements, the importance of ABS for GRFA in general, and challenges with implementation and enforcement of policy and legislation (e.g.…”