The Legal Conundrum over Regulation of Access and Benefit Sharing Obligations in Digital Sequence Information over Genetic Resources‐Assessing Indian Position

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Kharb
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
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 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 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 ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING UNDER NAGOYA PROTOCOL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
STELLINA JOLLY
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
Equitable Sharing

The debate over control and ownership of natural and bio genetic resources has a chequered history in International environmental law. Historically genetic resources were considered and acknowledged as part of common heritage of mankind. But with the development of technologies and the heightened north south divide over the issue of sovereign right over natural resources the developing nations became extremely concerned with the exploitation of biological and Genetic resources. Access to benefit sharing (ABS) was considered as an answer to balance the interests of developed and developing nations and to conserve and protect bio diversity. Adopted on October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP) has come into force after its 50th ratification on 2013. Nagoya protocol details on procedure for access and benefit sharing, disclosure mechanism, principles of transparency and democracy. The paper analyses the protection of access and benefit sharing envisaged under Nagoya protocol and its possible role in promoting sustainable development in the develoing nations. 

scholarly journals An open-source GIS-enabled lookup service for Nagoya Protocol party information

Database ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrikje Seifert ◽  
Marc Weber ◽  
Frank Oliver Glöckner ◽  
Ivaylo Kostadinov
Keyword(s):  
Data Management ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure ◽  
Clearing House ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Nagoya Protocol

Abstract The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing is a transparent legal framework, which governs the access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization. Complying with the Nagoya regulations ensures legal use and re-use of data from genetic resources. Providing detailed provenance information and clear re-usage conditions plays a key role in ensuring the re-usability of research data according to the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable) Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Even with the framework provided by the ABS (access and benefit sharing) Clearing House and the support of the National Focal Points, establishing a direct link between the research data from genetic resources and the relevant Nagoya information remains a challenge. This is particularly true for re-using publicly available data. The Nagoya Lookup Service was developed for stakeholders in biological sciences with the aim at facilitating the legal and FAIR data management, specifically for data publication and re-use. The service provides up-to-date information on the Nagoya party status for a geolocation provided by GPS coordinates, directing the user to the relevant local authorities for further information. It integrates open data from the ABS Clearing House, Marine Regions, GeoNames and Wikidata. The service is accessible through a REST API and a user-friendly web form. Stakeholders include data librarians, data brokers, scientists and data archivists who may use this service before, during and after data acquisition or publication to check whether legal documents need to be prepared, considered or verified. The service allows researchers to estimate whether genetic data they plan to produce or re-use might fall under Nagoya regulations or not, within the limits of the technology and without constituting legal advice. It is implemented using portable Docker containers and can easily be deployed locally or on a cloud infrastructure. The source code for building the service is available under an open-source license on GitHub, with a functional image on Docker Hub and can be used by anyone free of charge.

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