Talks begin in Montreal on digital sequence information of biodiversity

Talks begin in Montreal on digital sequence information of biodiversity

Sub: Env

Sec: Biodiversity

Context:

• Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Benefit-sharing from the Use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources meeting– Montreal, Canada.
• Formed at the 2022 COP15 for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on Genetic Resources:

• Digital sequence information (DSI) is a term used in the context of certain international policy fora, particularly the Convention on Biological Diversity, to refer to data derived from genetic resources.
• DSI refers to data from DNA or RNA that can be stored digitally.
• The term is generally agreed to include nucleic acid sequence data and may be construed to include other data types derived from or linked to genetic resources, including, for example, protein sequence data.
• The exact scope of this term is an aspect of ongoing policy discussions.
• DSI is crucial to research in a wide range of contexts, including public health, medicine, biodiversity, plant and animal breeding, and evolution research.
• The Nagoya Protocol, a component of the Convention on Biological Diversity, establishes a right for countries to regulate, and to share in benefits derived from, their nation’s genetic resources by arranging Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements with users.

Key Issues and Challenges:

• Despite the CBD’s efforts, benefit-sharing has been ineffective, even with the Nagoya Protocol implemented in 2014.
• Current Challenges:
  • Existing public databases for DSI were established before CBD’s adoption in 1992 and lack accountability to CBD or its Parties.
  • Databases do not verify the legitimacy or the permission for DSI sourced from countries of origin, allowing anonymous and unrestricted access.
  • The US, not being a party to the CBD or Nagoya Protocol, is not bound by their rules.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a legally binding treaty to conserve biodiversity has been in force since 1993. It has 3 main objectives:
  • The conservation of biological diversity.
  • The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity.
  • The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
• Nearly all countries have ratified it (notably, the US has signed but not ratified).
• The CBD Secretariat is based in Montreal, Canada and it operates under the United Nations Environment Programme.
• The Parties (Countries) under Convention of Biodiversity (CBD), meet at regular intervals and these meetings are called Conference of Parties (COP).
• In 2000, a supplementary agreement to the Convention known as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was adopted. It came into force on 11th September 2003.
  • The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) was adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan at COP10. It entered into force on 12th October 2014.
  • It not only applies to genetic resources that are covered by the CBD, and to the benefits arising from their utilization but also covers traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources that are covered by the CBD and the benefits arising from its utilization.
• Along with the Nagoya Protocol on Genetic Resources, the COP-10 also adopted a ten-year framework for action by all countries to save biodiversity.
• Officially known as “Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020”, it provided a set of 20 ambitious yet achievable targets collectively known as the Aichi Targets for biodiversity.
• India enacted Biological Diversity Act in 2002 for giving effect to the provisions of the CBD.

Source: DTE