An inter-disciplinary methodology for researching benefit-sharing as a norm diffusing in global environmental law

This paper proposes a methodology for an interdisciplinary, empirical enquiry into the diffusion of the legal concept of ‘benefit-sharing’. The paper draws together accounts of norm diffusion from sociology, international relations and law to devise a theoretical approach for the empirical research of global environmental law. Against this background, the paper explores the usefulness of process-tracing, the relevance of frames and the need for a participatory action research approach for a research project focused on benefit-sharing as a tool to operationalize equity among and within States

The need for an international legal concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing

This article proposes a concept of 'fair and equitable benefit sharing' deriving from international biodiversity law, international human rights law, and the law of the sea. The concept identifies normative elements that are shared among the international treaties that refer to benefit sharing, comprising the act of sharing; the nature of the benefits to be shared; the activities from which benefit sharing arise; the beneficiaries; and fairness and equity as the rationale for benefit sharing in international law. The concept is not intended to provide a holistic or exhaustive notion of fair and equitable benefit sharing but, rather, to support comparison and generalization with a view to shifting the current investigation from sectoral/technical approaches to the perspective of general international law and the contribution to research in other areas of international law. The proposed conceptualization is thus geared towards the development of a research agenda targeting a variety of international and transnational legal materials, allowing for the appreciation of differences in the context of varying logics of different areas of law