The Ad-hoc open ended working group on Benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources meeting was held this month in Montreal, Canada.
The main agenda item is the further development of the multilateral mechanism for benefit sharing including a global fund, in which the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP15) and the Nagoya Protocol meeting in 2022 established to provide a legal framework for access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from its utilzation.
The meeting consisted of over 300 delegates representing 119 countries which included 3 delegates from the pacific region, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Samoa as part of the Asia-Pacific Working Group (APWG). The meeting was attended to by NES Digital & Communications Co-ordinator, Moana Tetauru.
During the reading of the APWG opening statement, the group noted the importance of the establishment of the multilateral system that will effectively support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) in which the system provides an equitable process for the distribution of benefits and ensuring transparency while upholding the full rights of all developing parties and SIDS to access funding.
The working group also emphasised the importance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and the connection to Traditional Knowledge (TK) and its association with genetic resources and the multilateral system given the region’s richness in biodiversity and the need for regional projects and activities funded through the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The statement concluded that the APWG remains committed to working in collaboratively towards the benefit-sharing from the use of DSI and encouraged countries to focus on biodiversity conservation.
To conclude the 5-day meeting, countries agreed on a draft Recommendation for consideration by COP16 of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in October in Cali, Colombia.
