Biodiversity Negotiations Snagged on Sharing Research Benefits

The conference runs from 18 to 29 October. The ABS negotiations ran late every night last week but still failed to produce a proposed protocol on the issue by the agreed-upon Friday deadline. The group co-chairs, Timothy Hodges of Canada and Fernando Casas of Colombia asked for a deadline extension, to today, and this morning asked for another 2 days. (The latest available draft of the document is here.) "The negotiators are prepared for the final push, and we remain confident of the outcome, but we need more time," Hodges told the plenary session this morning.

Much of the ABS protocol has been finalized or nearly finalized. But there are two areas in which negotiators remain far apart. Predictably, the two issues split developing and developed countries, or providers and users of genetic materials, in the language of the debate.

Providers want the protocol to cover not only the use of genetic material itself but also "derivatives," the biochemical compounds resulting from gene expression, for example. They are also leery of exceptions for the emergency use of pathogens, such as flu viruses, fearing that without tighter control, resulting vaccines could be priced out of reach of developing countries. Groups representing indigenous peoples also want to include the use of traditional knowledge, such as the use of plants as medicinal agents in traditional medicine. Users generally want more liberal access. One particularly contentious issue is whether the protocol will reach backward in time to cover cases of commercialization or use prior to its adoption and to materials in advanced country collections of botanical and medicinal materials, as providers are demanding. Users want the rules only to apply going forward.

To ensure compliance, providing countries are asking for "checkpoints," at which some certification of proper acquisition and informed consent is verified. Suggested draft provisions envision this task being taken on by patent offices, research institutions, scientific journals, and authorities vetting the marketing of natural products. Developed countries are pushing for simpler compliance procedures.

The concept of benefit sharing primarily targets commercial research. The draft calls for "simplified measures on access for non-commercial research purposes." "The simplified access provisions are very reasonable," says David Schindel of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. But he still warns that the days of scientists collecting specimens for research without gaining permissions and working with local partners are gone.

While the ABS negotiations continue, the other two agreements are practically finalized, working groups have reported to plenary sessions. CBD failed to meet an ambitious goal of significantly slowing down biodiversity loss by this year. And one of the agreements is to redouble efforts to protect biodiversity with new targets for 2020. The other focuses on providing financial resources to help achieve those goals.

The government of Japan, which chairs the meeting, hopes to have the three agreements considered separately. But the developing countries are insisting on an all-three-or-nothing package deal. That puts all the more pressure on the ABS negotiators to reach a consensus within this week.