Side Event

An international regime on ABS: Essential Questions with Regard to Scope

Organizer
The Fridtjof Nansen Institute

Date and Time
22 March 2010 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WG ABS 9)

The functionality and strength of an international regime on ABS depends to a great extent on its scope. Whether the parties will agree to a broad and inclusive scope depends on how the different sub-sectors of genetic resources will be dealt with in an international regime and what genetic resources as such it will comprise: • The definition of ‘genetic resources’ was drafted in another technological reality than the one ABS is facing today. What does the wording of this definition mean, what was once meant, which challenges does this entail for a functional ABS system, and how can an international regime contribute to solve some of these challenges? • What implications do other international agreements have for the scope of an international ABS regime in view of the specific features and management needs of sub-categories of genetic resources? And what are the prospects for a sectoral approach to these sub-categories under the international regime? In this side event, researchers from the ABS project of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, will present findings from two studies in which these questions have been analyzed.