|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (Jun22/04) Dear friends and colleagues If a multilateral mechanism stumbles, what then for DSI benefit sharing? Discussion at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for several years has centred on the possibility of creating a multilateral system of benefit sharing for digital sequence information (DSI). Proponents of a multilateral system say that it could allow the vast majority of DSI to remain publicly accessible yet also generate substantial revenues for developing countries to put toward biodiversity conservation. But large gaps remain between Parties to the CBD, and the ultimate direction of the decision remains unknown. A new TWN Briefing Paper – If a multilateral mechanism stumbles, what then for DSI benefit sharing? – explores implications of a more bilateral implementation of DSI access and benefit sharing. It is a road less discussed – yet becoming more likely – with major implications for both the North and the South, and which may differently impact provider countries that have significant bioinformatics capacities and those that do not. A bilateral agenda will be difficult and challenging for developing countries to successfully implement, especially smaller countries with fewer resources and capacities. And if a multilateral system with substantial annual financial benefits that can effect real change in conservation could be created, it remains preferable and would be the most “efficient, feasible and practical” approach that Parties have sought. But if countries want to pursue a bilateral DSI agenda, they should go in with eyes wide open, and be fully cognizant of the substantial demands that it entails. Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that the North's refusal to offer serious benefit sharing in return for DSI is leading toward a chaotic and complicated international situation for access to DSI that is not in the interest of developed countries' companies or scientists. With best wishes, Third World Network
|
||
