Genetic resources in the CBD: the wording, the past, the present and the future
This paper aims at contributing to the development of an international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS) by clarifying the concept of ‘genetic resources’ as it has emerged and keeps evolving. The paper underlines that the emerging global markets for genetic resources and recent developments in modern biotechnology have laid the foundations for new ways of understanding and realising the values of ‘functional units of heredity’.
The document demonstrates that there are strong indications of multiple dimensions for genetic resources. However, if the informational and digital dimensions are removed from the concept, valuable ways of realising the potential value of the functional units of heredity could fall outside the scope of an international ABS regime.
The paper introduces the following findings:
- an international regime needs to be made in a manner that can offer legal certainty for both providers and users of ‘genetic resources’
- the regime must maximise the incentives for users to comply, while minimising the negative incentives
- it is crucial to the targeted functionality to specify and develop a common understanding of the existing definition of ‘genetic resources’ in an easily interpretable, implementable and enforceable way
- in this sense, an international ABS regime can maintain a broad and dynamic understanding of the concept of genetic resources
- traditional knowledge (TK) is important both in the access situation and in the utilisation phase when the value of genetic material is captured
- TK can be used variously, in connection with genetic resources and as the object of innovative activities
