International Cooperation for the Conservation and Sustainable and Fair Use of Biodiversity

This thesis contributes to the modelling of intergovernmental cooperation for global biodiversity conservation and analyses multilateral cooperation on the genetic resource market. The inter- and transdisciplinary research consists of game theoretic modelling, economic analyses, the study of political and legal documents, as well as the conduct of expert interviews. The game theoretic biodiversity conservation model developed in this thesis considers countries that are heterogeneous in ecosystems and wealth. The ecosystems are characterised by imperfect ecosystem substitutability as well as an ecosystem resilience threshold and provide local as well as global benefits. One of the main findings of the numerical appraisal is that cooperation improves upon the conservation share in the Nash equilibrium and optimal transfers facilitate a large stable coalition. Moreover, it is evinced that established ‘per-member partition functions’ are currently not applicable to the biodiversity conservation game. Based on expert interview results and technical feasibility and political economy considerations, an alternative benefit-sharing rule is derived. It is shown how this rule can be incorporated into the standard game-theoretic framework once countries have gained sufficient information to form expectations about biodiversity benefits. The main finding on multilateral cooperation on the market for physical genetic resources is that eco-regional cooperation and, even more so, a comprehensive global mechanism have the potential to significantly reduce transaction costs for both supplying countries and customers. They can thereby decrease prices for customers and increase demand, conservation levels and providers’ benefits. A case study of the Andean Community’s joint access legislation shows that the member countries realise few of their potential cooperation advantages. Collusion on the physical genetic resource market will not lead to high benefits as market power is limited by substitutes in form of ex-situ resources and freely available genetic information. The economically preferable instrument of a comprehensive global mechanism, in turn, is politically not feasible any time soon due to path dependencies and an arguably narrow understanding of national sovereignty.Diese Dissertation erweitert bestehende Ansätze zur Modellierung von zwischenstaatlicher Kooperation für den globalen Biodiversitätsschutz und analysiert multilaterale Kooperation auf dem Markt für genetische Ressourcen. Die inter- und transdisziplinäre Forschung beruht auf spieltheoretischen Methoden, ökonomischen Analysen, der Auswertung politischer und juristischer Dokumente sowie der Durchführung von Experteninterviews. Das in dieser Dissertation entwickelte spieltheoretische Biodiversitätsschutz-Modell berücksichtigt Länder, die heterogen in Ökosystemen und Wohlstand sind. Die Ökosysteme sind durch imperfekte Substituierbarkeit sowie Resilienzschwellen charakterisiert und stiften lokalen wie auch globalen Nutzen. Eines der zentralen Ergebnisse der numerischen Abschätzung ist, dass Kooperation zu einer Verbesserung des Schutzniveaus im Vergleich zum Nash-Gleichgewicht führt und optimale Transferzahlungen eine große stabile Koalition begünstigen. Außerdem zeigt sich, dass etablierte `per-member partition functions' (spieltheoretisch begründete Ausgleichszahlungen) zurzeit nicht auf das Biodiversitätsschutz- Spiel anwendbar sind. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der Experteninterviews und unter Berücksichtigung der technischen Realisierbarkeit sowie polit-ökonomischer Erwägungen wird ein alternativer Bestimmungsfaktor für den Vorteilsausgleich entwickelt. Dabei wird herausgearbeitet, wie diese Verteilungsregel in den spieltheoretischen Standardmodellrahmen integriert werden kann, sobald die Länder ausreichende Kenntnisse erworben haben, um den Nutzen der Biodiversität zu bewerten. Das Hauptergebnis zu multilateraler Kooperation auf dem Markt für physische genetische Ressourcen ist, dass ökoregionale Kooperation und vor allem ein umfassender globaler Mechanismus das Potential haben, die Transaktionskosten sowohl für Anbieterländer als auch Nutzer signifikant zu verringern. Dadurch können sich die Preise für die Nutzer reduzieren und die Nachfrage, das Schutzniveau und die Gewinne der Anbieterländer erhöhen. In einer Fallstudie zur Andengemeinschaft wird aufgezeigt, dass die Mitgliedsländer wenige ihrer potenziellen Kooperationsvorteile realisieren. Kollusion auf dem Markt für physische genetische Ressourcen wird keine hohen Gewinne erzielen, da die Marktmacht durch Substitute in Form von Exsitu Ressourcen und frei erhältlicher genetischer Information limitiert ist. Das aus ökonomischer Sicht vorzuziehende Instrument eines umfassenden globalen Mechanismus wiederum ist politisch in absehbarer Zeit aufgrund von Pfadabhängigkeiten und einem wohl engen Verständnis nationaler Souveränität nicht durchsetzbar

Between hope and hype: Traditional knowledge(s) held by marginal communities

Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems have always been integral to the survival and adaptation of human societies. Yet, they enjoy a fairly recent recognition and popularization by scientists, the media, politicians, corporates and the wider public. In this paper we present a typology of key driving forces behind the popularization of TK held by marginal communities: an equality preference motive, a value motive, a compliance motive, a scarcity motive and a strategic motive. Secondly, through the use of a simple model, we discuss the hype’s impact on marginal communities. Moreover, we critically assess the outcome of a number of policy instruments that intend, in part, to protect traditional knowledge bases of such communities. Our analysis primarily draws upon secondary literature; policy documents and case studies within economics, the social sciences, conservation biology and legal studies. We argue that whilst the public and institutional hype around TK may have resulted in its prioritization within international conventions and frameworks, its institutionalization may have adversely impacted marginalized communities, and in particular contexts, unintentionally led to the creation of “new” marginals. We purport that the traditional innovation incentive motive does not hold for protecting TK within a private property regime. Instead we identify a conservation incentive motive and a distribution motive that justify deriving policy instruments that focus on TK to protect marginal communities

Eco-regional Cartels on the Genetic Resource Market and the case of the Andean Community's legislation

The United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity raised expectations of high benefits in genetic resource trade with megadiverse countries. As a reaction the Andean Community (CAN) passed strict community access legislation. Against this background the main objective of this paper is to investigate whether public eco-regional cartels of megadiverse countries on the genetic resource market can increase the appropriable benefits from biodiversity. We analyse how cartel design affects cartel benefits and discuss the benefit distribution among cartel members. As a case study we examine the CAN community access legislation (Decision 391) in the light of biodiversity collusion. Our main finding is that cartels-contrary to their negative connotation-are potentially able to stimulate genetic resource trade, increase the providers' appropriable benefits from biodiversity, and reduce the costs for customers. This depends largely on the cartel design and the ability to attract bioprospecting agents. A member's benefit share rises in the member's relative biodiversity richness and even more in the quality of the institutional environment. The CAN collusion nullifies its market power by a deterringly overly strict access regulation and a lack of internal cooperation