The first meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing opens today at the International Congress Centre Bundeshaus in Bonn, Germany. The Working Group was established by the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to develop guidelines and other approaches for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing (ABS), specifically with regard to: prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms; roles, responsibilities and participation of stakeholders; relevant aspects relating to in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable use; mechanisms for benefit-sharing; and means to ensure the respect, preservation and maintenance of knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities. Such discussions are also supposed to consider ongoing work of relevance under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 

Delegates are expected to convene in two sub-working groups. Sub-Working Group One will discuss: the development of draft guidelines on ABS. Sub-Working Group Two will discuss the role of intellectual property rights (IPR) in ABS arrangements; and other approaches to ABS including the development of an action plan for capacity building, with specific attention to assessment and inventory of biological resources, contract negotiation, legal drafting, and means for the protection of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. The Working Group's recommendations will be forwarded for consideration to CBD COP-6 (8-19 April 2002; the Hague, the Netherlands).
Above photo: CBD Secretariat staff in a huddle before opening plenary.

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ENB Summary of the 2nd Experts Panel on Access and Benefit Sharing
ENB coverage of ABS-1
ENB coverage of SBSTTA-6
CBD Secretariat web site with official documents, information for participants and Pre-Registration Form
ENB's Introduction to the CBD
World Intellectual Property Organization