scholarly journals SYNTHESYS+ Molecular Collections in the Age of Genomics: Standards and processes

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Seberg ◽  
Gabriele Droege ◽  
Jonas Astrin ◽  
Katharine Barker ◽  
Jonathan Coddington
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Culture Collections ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Secure Interoperability ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Eu

The aim of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN, http://www.ggbn.org) is to foster collaboration among biodiversity biobanks on a global scale in order to further compliance with standards, best practices, and to secure interoperability and exchange of material in accordance with national and international legislation and conventions. Thus, key aspects of GGBN’s mission are to develop a network of trusted collections, establishing standards, and identifying best practices by reaching out to other communities. This is especially critical in the light of new international legislation such as the recent Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS). Biological repositories such as but not limited to natural history collections, botanic gardens, culture collections and zoos are facing a series of challenges triggered by the rapid acceleration in sequencing technology that has put added pressure on the use of samples, which just a few years ago were considered inaccessible for sequencing. ABS legislation applies to nearly all collection types, and with biodiversity biobanks increasing in number worldwide, there is an urgent need to streamline procedures and to ensure legislative compliance. Within Europe it is necessary to 1) reach common standards for biodiversity and environmental biobanks; 2) define best practices for the use of molecular collections; and 3) try to ease exchange of samples and related information, while staying compliant with legislation and conventions. Within the EU funded SYNTHESYS+ project (http://www.synthesys.info), GGBN is leading Network Activity 3 (NA3). An overview of planned activities and tasks will be given here with special emphasis on linkages within and beyond SYNTHESYS+.

scholarly journals Furthering Genomic Research Infrastructures: The Global Genome Biodiversity Network

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Barker ◽  
Jonas Astrin ◽  
Gabriele Droege ◽  
Jonathan Coddington ◽  
Ole Seberg
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Genomic Research ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Culture Collections ◽  
Data Standard ◽  
Research Infrastructures ◽  
Biodiversity Information

Most successful research programs depend on easily accessible and standardized research infrastructures. Until recently, access to tissue or DNA samples with standardized metadata and of a sufficiently high quality, has been a major bottleneck for genomic research. The Global Geonome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) fills this critical gap by offering standardized, legal access to samples. Presently, GGBN’s core activity is enabling access to searchable DNA and tissue collections across natural history museums and botanic gardens. Activities are gradually being expanded to encompass all kinds of biodiversity biobanks such as culture collections, zoological gardens, aquaria, arboreta, and environmental biobanks. Broadly speaking, these collections all provide long-term storage and standardized public access to samples useful for molecular research. GGBN facilitates sample search and discovery for its distributed member collections through a single entry point. It stores standardized information on mostly geo-referenced, vouchered samples, their physical location, availability, quality, and the necessary legal information on over 50,000 species of Earth’s biodiversity, from unicellular to multicellular organisms. The GGBN Data Portal and the GGBN Data Standard are complementary to existing infrastructures such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and International Nucleotide Sequence Database (INSDC). Today, many well-known open-source collection management databases such as Arctos, Specify, and Symbiota, are implementing the GGBN data standard. GGBN continues to increase its collections strategically, based on the needs of the research community, adding over 1.3 million online records in 2018 alone, and today two million sample data are available through GGBN. Together with Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), and Synthesis of Systematic Resources (SYNTHESYS+), GGBN provides best practices for biorepositories on meeting the requirements of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS). By collaboration with the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), GGBN is exploring options for tagging publications that reference GGBN collections and associated specimens, made searchable through GGBN’s document library. Through its collaborative efforts, standards, and best practices GGBN aims at facilitating trust and transparency in the use of genetic resources.

The EU and Environmental Multilateralism: The Case of Access and Benefit-Sharing and the Need for a Good-Faith Test

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 109-142
Author(s):  
Elisa Morgera
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis chapter discusses the need for a good-faith test for assessing the legitimacy of ongoing and future EU initiatives aimed at contributing to the development and implementation of international environmental law. A test that is based on the international legal principle of good faith may serve to better understand when the EU is effectively supporting environmental multilateralism to the benefit of the international community, rather than seeking to unduly influence it purely for its own advantage. The test is developed mostly on the basis of EU efforts of contributing to climate change multilateralism, and is applied to a much less studied case: the adoption and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

scholarly journals New ECCO model documents for Material Deposit and Transfer Agreements in compliance with the Nagoya Protocol

2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Verkley ◽  
Giancarlo Perrone ◽  
Mery Piña ◽  
Amber Hartman Scholz ◽  
Jörg Overmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Culture Collection ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Microbial Culture ◽  
Material Transfer ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Culture Collections ◽  
Material Transfer Agreement ◽  
The Status

ABSTRACT The European Culture Collections’ Organisation presents two new model documents for Material Deposit Agreement (MDA) and Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) designed to enable microbial culture collection leaders to draft appropriate agreement documents for, respectively, deposit and supply of materials from a public collection. These tools provide guidance to collections seeking to draft an MDA and MTA, and are available in open access to be used, modified, and shared. The MDA model consists of a set of core fields typically included in a ‘deposit form’ to collect relevant information to facilitate assessment of the status of the material under access and benefit sharing (ABS) legislation. It also includes a set of exemplary clauses to be included in ‘terms and conditions of use’ for culture collection management and third parties. The MTA model addresses key issues including intellectual property rights, quality, safety, security and traceability. Reference is made to other important tools such as best practices and code of conduct related to ABS issues. Besides public collections, the MDA and MTA model documents can also be useful for individual researchers and microbial laboratories that collect or receive microbial cultures, keep a working collection, and wish to share their material with others.

scholarly journals The Implementation of ‘Access and Benefit-sharing’ in Five eu Member States: The Achievements and Deficiencies of the Nagoya Protocol and the eu Regulation 511/2014

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Vanheusden ◽  
Griet Van den Berghe
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Regulation ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Clear Delineation ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
The Eu

The Nagoya Protocol of 2010 on Access and Benefit-sharing and the related European Regulation 511/2014 provide an answer to the question how access to genetic resources may be ensured. However, the eu itself as well as several eu member states struggle with the implementation of the protocol (and the regulation). This article analyses the difficulties encountered at the European and the national level (in five member states) with the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol obligations. It concludes that, although the Nagoya Protocol is an important step forward for the protection of biodiversity and the fight against biopiracy, it clearly is a compromise text, with all the issues arising therefrom. Also Regulation 511/2014 drops a few stiches in the clear delineation of obligations. However, on the national level this does not lead to extremely discrepant national enforcement mechanisms, at least within the five reviewed member states.

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.

Political aspects of security of the European Union Member States

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Political Security ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Eu

Political security is very often considered through the prism of individual states. In the scholar literature in-depth analyses of this kind of security are rarely encountered in the context of international entities that these countries integrate. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to key aspects of political security in the European Union (EU) Member States. The EU as a supranational organisation, gathering Member States first, ensures the stability of the EU as a whole, and secondly, it ensures that Member States respect common values and principles. Additionally, the EU institutions focus on ensuring the proper functioning of the Eurozone (also called officially “euro area” in EU regulations). Actions that may have a negative impact on the level of the EU’s political security include the boycott of establishing new institutions conducive to the peaceful coexistence and development of states. These threats seem to have a significant impact on the situation in the EU in the face of the proposed (and not accepted by Member States not belonging to the Eurogroup) Eurozone reforms concerning, inter alia, appointment of the Minister of Economy and Finance and the creation of a new institution - the European Monetary Fund.

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