International regime on access and benefit sharing: negotiation dynamics and South Asian issues

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was instituted as the international regime that would serve as the basis to negotiate issues of access and benefit sharing (ABS) related to genetic resources. In this context, the current paper discusses the negotiation dynamics of the international regime on ABS, and issues for South Asian countries.

The paper states that after about two decades of the institution of the CBD, the issue of ABS is still fraught with significant problems, mainly because of the lack of enforceability of the Convention due to its legally non-binding nature. In this respect, although all the countries in South Asia have signed and ratified the CBD, only two countries in the region have put in place related national legislation.

On the negotiations front, the author demonstrates that:

• despite the fact that most issues remain unresolved and controversial, the implications of realising the agenda put forth in 2008 would be manifold and greatly help countries strengthen measures on ABS
• on the other hand, the developing world should bear in mind that negotiations should not be rushed into, for it is extremely important to arrive at balanced and carefully thought-out solutions as envisaged in the ABS regime’s operational text

Concerning South Asia, the document indicates that:

• the legal environment in the region lacks not only regulatory measures, but also implementation of measures that already exist
• therefore, South Asian countries should strive to strengthen their legal, regulatory and administrative frameworks on the ABS regime

The paper concludes that South Asia requires an exhaustive international ABS regime to address the issues of access to biological and/or genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and stop biopiracy.