The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing: What is New and What are the Implications for Provider and User Countries and the Scientific Community?

Abstract

In culmination of the efforts by the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) to adopt an international regime to regulate access and benefit sharing, the Nagoya Protocol was adopted at the COP 10 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on 29 October 2010. The preceding negotiations aimed to produce a legal tool or regime that would oblige the parties to the Convention as well as resolve the long-standing stalemate between providers and users of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The entire process leading to the adoption of the Protocol was marked with contention. Many issues remained unresolved until the last minute, when in night-long sessions a bargain was struck between provider and user states. The resulting text therefore abandons many legitimate issues raised by provider states that still existed in the final text of the ICG (Informal Consultative Group) as handed over to the Plenary for adoption. What is new in the Protocol? Who got what? In its current status, is the Protocol able to resolve the stalemate? Should parties adopt it and what are the stakes? This article gives an evaluation of the outcome of the negotiations based on these and other questions and assesses which implications this might have on provider and user states and the scientific community