scholarly journals Practical consequences of digital sequence information (DSI) definitions and access and benefit‐sharing scenarios from a plant genebank’s perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Brink ◽  
Theo Hintum
Keyword(s):  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing

scholarly journals Farmers’ Rights and Digital Sequence Information: Crisis or Opportunity to Reclaim Stewardship Over Agrobiodiversity?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Wynberg ◽  
Regine Andersen ◽  
Sarah Laird ◽  
Kudzai Kusena ◽  
Christian Prip ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Plant Genetic Resources ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Contestations about the way in which digital sequence information is used and regulated have created stumbling blocks across multiple international policy processes. Such schisms have profound implications for the way in which we manage and conceptualize agrobiodiversity and its benefits. This paper explores the relationship between farmers’ rights, as recognized in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the dematerialization of genetic resources. Using concepts of “stewardship” and “ownership” we emphasize the need to move away from viewing agrobiodiversity as a commodity that can be owned, toward a strengthened, proactive and expansive stewardship approach that recognizes plant genetic resources for food and agriculture as a public good which should be governed as such. Through this lens we analyze the relationship between digital sequence information and different elements of farmers’ rights to compare and contrast implications for the governance of digital sequence information. Two possible parallel pathways are presented, the first envisaging an enhanced multilateral system that includes digital sequence information and which promotes and enhances the realization of farmers’ rights; and the second a more radical approach that folds together concepts of stewardship, farmers’ rights, and open source science. Farmers’ rights, we suggest, may well be the linchpin for finding fair and equitable solutions for digital sequence information beyond the bilateral and transactional approach that has come to characterize access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Existing policy uncertainties could be seized as an unexpected but serendipitous opportunity to chart an alternative and visionary pathway for the rights of farmers and other custodians of plant genetic resources.

scholarly journals Implementation and legal issues of DNA-based monitoring

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Boets ◽  
Daniel Hering ◽  
Patricia Mergen
Keyword(s):  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Biodiversity Indicator ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Routine Monitoring ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Essential Biodiversity Variables ◽  
Legal Frameworks

DNA-based methods are at the edge of being implemented into routine monitoring systems. WG5 aimed to develop implementation options for DNA-based methods under a range of environmental directives and legal frameworks, in particular the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the UN SDGs, the Global Biodiversity Assessment under the IPBES, the CBD Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, the digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI), the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership, and the Essential Biodiversity Variables. It further aimed at starting the standardisation process for DNA-based methods. In the talk, we will give an overview of all WG5 activities, with a focus on the options to use DNA-based methods for the implementation of the WFD. Overall, suitability of DNA-based identification is particularly high for fish, as eDNA is a well-suited sampling approach which can replace expensive and potentially harmful methods. For invertebrates and phytobenthos, the main challenges include the modification of indices and completing barcode libraries. For phytoplankton, the barcode libraries are even more problematic, due to the high taxonomic diversity in plankton samples. If current assessment concepts are kept, DNA-based identification is least appropriate for macrophytes (rivers, lakes) and angiosperms/macroalgae (transitional and coastal waters), which are surveyed rather than sampled. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of implementing DNA-based identification into standard ecological assessment, in particular considering any adaptations to existing legislation that may be required to facilitate the transition to using molecular data.

scholarly journals Germplasm Acquisition and Distribution by CGIAR Genebanks

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Halewood ◽  
Nelissa Jamora ◽  
Isabel Noriega ◽  
Noelle Anglin ◽  
Peter Wenzl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genomic Sequence ◽  
Plant Genetic Resources ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Level Information ◽  
United Nations Food

The international collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers are important components of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s global system of conservation and use of PGRFA. They also play an important supportive role in realizing Target 2.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper analyzes CGIAR genebanks’ trends in acquiring and distributing PGRFA over the last 35 years, with a particular focus on the last decade. The paper highlights a number of factors influencing the Centers’ acquisition of new PGRFA to include in the international collections, including increased capacity to analyze gaps in those collections and precisely target new collecting missions, availability of financial resources, and the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws and phytosanitary regulations. Factors contributing to Centers’ distributions of PGRFA included the extent of accession-level information, users’ capacity to identify the materials they want, and policies. The genebanks’ rates of both acquisition and distribution increased over the last decade. The paper ends on a cautionary note concerning the potential of unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information to undermine international cooperation to conserve and use PGRFA.

scholarly journals Bringing access and benefit sharing into the digital age

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Aubry ◽  
Christine Frison ◽  
Jorge Cabrera Medaglia ◽  
Emile Frison ◽  
Marcel Jaspars ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Stakeholder Committee

Reading and writing DNA is now possible with an unprecedented speed and ease. Until recently, the global political and legal instruments regulating genetic resources globally exclusively focused on access to physical genetic resources without considering possible consequences of their digitization. Following significant tensions in the various international forums addressing access and benefit sharing of genetic resources, we advocate here a new Multi-stakeholder Committee on the Governance of Digital Sequence Information, dedicated to solving governance issues associated with digitization of genetic resources. This body will constitute a transversal and inclusive tool that will facilitate long-term coherence in all policy sectors dealing with genetic resources.

scholarly journals Compatible or incompatible? DSI, open access, and benefit-sharing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Sara ◽  
Andrew Lee Hufton ◽  
Amber Hartman Scholz
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Differences Of Opinion

The scientific community has a strong tradition of sharing digital sequence information (DSI) in an unrestricted manner through public databases. While this tradition of “open access” sharing has many benefits, it has created tension in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Differences of opinion on open access to DSI underlie key points of divergence in ongoing negotiations. The CBD has provided a set of policy options for DSI, but they are not granular enough to assess whether they are compatible with open access principles. Here, we explain what open access to DSI means in practice, assess the CBD DSI policy options through a more granular, technical lens, and discuss which policy options best enable open access. We show that de-coupled benefit-sharing mechanisms for DSI are the most compatible with open access practices and multilateral mechanisms, in general, are the most suited for benefit-sharing if fully de-coupled mechanisms become politically unrealistic.

scholarly journals The U.S. Culture Collection Network Responding to the Requirements of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing

mBio ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin McCluskey ◽  
Katharine B. Barker ◽  
Hazel A. Barton ◽  
Kyria Boundy-Mills ◽  
Daniel R. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Culture Collection ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Culture Collections ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACT The U.S. Culture Collection Network held a meeting to share information about how culture collections are responding to the requirements of the recently enacted Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The meeting included representatives of many culture collections and other biological collections, the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Secretariat of the CBD, interested scientific societies, and collection groups, including Scientific Collections International and the Global Genome Biodiversity Network. The participants learned about the policies of the United States and other countries regarding access to genetic resources, the definition of genetic resources, and the status of historical materials and genetic sequence information. Key topics included what constitutes access and how the CBD Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing-House can help guide researchers through the process of obtaining Prior Informed Consent on Mutually Agreed Terms. U.S. scientists and their international collaborators are required to follow the regulations of other countries when working with microbes originally isolated outside the United States, and the local regulations required by the Nagoya Protocol vary by the country of origin of the genetic resource. Managers of diverse living collections in the United States described their holdings and their efforts to provide access to genetic resources. This meeting laid the foundation for cooperation in establishing a set of standard operating procedures for U.S. and international culture collections in response to the Nagoya Protocol.

scholarly journals A need for Recalibration of the Discussions on Access and Benefit Sharing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Sara ◽  
Markus Wyss ◽  
René Custers ◽  
Anouk in 't Veld ◽  
Dominic Muyldermans
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Resource Mobilization ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Key Issues

Facing unprecedented global declines in the extent and integrity of ecosystems, the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference (COP-15) in Kunming, China, presents an opportunity for transformative change. However, a lack of consensus on two key issues – resource mobilization and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) associated with Digital Sequence Information (DSI) – risks stalling negotiations for an ambitious ‘Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’ as the next 10-year strategic plan under the Convention on Biological Diversity. We highlight systemic misconceptions concerning the financing of biodiversity and the burden this places on the ABS system. In the context of DSI, we caution that conflating ABS with resource mobilization risks disrupting modern science policy built on open access, with potentially severe ramifications for scientific research and innovation. To resolve these tensions, we call for a recalibration of discussions on ABS in order to maximize the value delivered by biodiversity for all of society, including indigenous peoples and local communities.

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