Draft calls for fair sharing of benefits from biological resource use+

WASHINGTON, March 23 Kyodo -
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity should each take legislative
and other measures aimed at ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits
arising from the utilization of genetic resources, according to a draft
protocol made available Monday.
The draft proposal by a working group's co-chairs calls for such benefits to be
distributed fairly among not only businesses and other entities utilizing
genetic resources but also the countries providing them, many of which are poor
developing nations.
The working group will seek to get the signatory nations to agree to the
proposal at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting, known as COP10, in
Nagoya, central Japan, in October.
The negotiation process, however, is expected to be tough because some
countries are reluctant about crafting a legally binding protocol, according to
sources familiar with the situation.
The document states that parties ''shall take legislative, administrative or
policy measures'' to ''ensure the fair and equitable sharing of such benefits
arising from the utilization of traditional knowledge associated with genetic
resources with the holders of such knowledge pursuant to mutually agreed
terms.''
It also calls on parties to the convention to ''set out clear and fair rules
and procedures on accessing genetic resources that do not arbitrarily
distinguish between national and foreign users.''
For ingredients, pharmaceutical firms and health food makers often rely on
plants and microorganisms available in developing countries with wide forested
areas. Poor countries providing such resources are calling for creating a legal
framework to ensure that they will receive a fair share of profits arising from
such business activities, according to the sources.
==Kyodo
2010-03-23 23:20:53