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Experts' Panel
on Access and Benefit-Sharing
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Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) said the Panel for advancing the access and
benefit-sharing (ABS) process provides an opportunity to explore
basic concepts and options for access and benefit-sharing ABS on
mutually agreed terms (MAT), including guiding principles, standards
and codes of best practices. He underlined that this is not a negotiating
exercise but a meeting of experts to define concepts and ways and
means to put them into practice with respect to the CBD.
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Rodolph Imhoof, Ambassador of Switzerland to Costa Rica, emphasized that this joint initiative between the Governments of Costa Rica and Switzerland would provide significant contributions to establishing guidelines for access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing. | |
Walter Niehaus, Costa Rican Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs,
emphasized the importance that Costa Rica places on biodiversity
conservation, noting that one-third of its national territory is
protected. He stressed the need to improve legally defined policies
to protect biodiversity resources and highlighted the recently adopted
Costa Rican Law on Biodiversity. He called for dialogue between
all stakeholders and emphasized the role of the private and public
sectors, intermediary institutions and local communities in bringing
about consensus.
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Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Interim Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy (second from the right), noted that the issue of benefit-sharing and access to genetic resources is one of the most important aspects of biodiversity conservation, and said there is a need to adopt guidelines in order to control access to these resources. He underscored the need for better defined codes and models, both ethical and legal, to address ABS issues. |
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The Plenary adopted the provisional
agenda (UNEP/CBD/EP-ABS/1/1) as presented by Jo Mulongoy (right),
CBD Secretariat.
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Kerry ten Kate, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, outlined the review of legislative, administrative and policy measures at national and regional levels. On trends, she also noted the importance of the consolidation of collecting activities, the growing role of intermediaries, recourse to ex situ collections, material transfer agreements and legal acquisitions of samples. On future scenarios, she highlighted the need for simple access laws, distinction between scientific and commercial use, and policies, guidelines and codes of conducts. | |
José Carlos Fernández Ugalde, ECOSUR, introduced the review of regulatory
procedures and incentive measures. He stressed that the efficiency
of mechanisms should be the focus of discussions. He highlighted
significant material and social costs for enforcement of access
regulations and said restrictive regulations would lead to high
administrative costs and promote illegal transfers and thus inhibit
implementation of the Convention's objectives.
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Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, WWF Cameroon, highlighted capacity building needs and stressed the importance of partnerships between providers and users of genetic resources at all levels. She noted that for benefit-sharing provisions to work effectively, actions must be tailored not only to support the States and their indigenous and local communities supplying genetic resources, but also the users of the resources. | |
ETHIOPIA (center) stressed that
the Panel of Experts should provide recommendations to guide national
implementation of the CBD.
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