German ABS Information Platform - Genetic Resouces: access and Benefit Sharing
EU proposal for regulation regarding the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization within the European Union, 4 oct 2012
International biodiversity conservation: Germany signs Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation
On 23 June 2011, along with representatives for eleven other EU member states and the EU, the German Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Peter Wittig, signed the Nagoya Protocol at the UN in New York. This new protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity governs access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilisation. The Protocol now needs to be ratified by the parties.
International ABS Protocol adopted in Nagoya
Nagoya ABS-Protokoll verabschiedet.
After seven years of intensive negotiations, the international community has adopted a binding international agreement on access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits from their utilisation – access and benefit sharing (ABS) – together with related traditional knowledge. The Nagoya ABS Protocol was signed on the last day of the 10th Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan, from 18 to 29 October 2010.
Background information
Provisions on access and benefit sharing (ABS) in relation to genetic resources are included in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Adopted at the Rio Summit in 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity is the first international treaty to address the sustainable use of all biodiversity. It aims to reconcile the use of natural resources by humankind with the conservation of global biological diversity. The sustainable use of biodiversity is therefore expressly stated as an objective alongside its conservation.
The Convention also makes allowance for the fact that it is not only possible to utilise plants, animals and products derived from them, but also genetic resources from specific animal plant species (for example as starting material for pharmaceutical research). For the first time, the Convention regards the genetic material of organisms as a resource that can be internationally traded, and lays down ground rules for such trading. Fair sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources is therefore the third objective of the Convention.
