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Biodiversity Benefit-Sharing Treaty Negotiators Tackle New Text As Clock Ticks

Another grace period has been given to negotiators trying feverishly to find agreement this week in Nagoya, Japan on an international instrument protecting countries against unlawful appropriation of their genetic resources and ensuring the fair sharing of benefits arising from the use of those resources. The delegates are to present their text Wednesday to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting so that it can be approved by ministers.

Change Coming To Quiet UN Plant Variety Protection Agency?

Two new civil society observers were admitted last week to the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) though whether that represents a cultural shift for the organisation or simply a procedure that has now been followed depends on who you ask. Meanwhile, a new vice secretary general prepared to take over for the first time in nearly 10 years.

Protocol on ABS Could Further Impoverish Indigenous Peoples, Groups Claim

Indigenous peoples today walked out of the ongoing negotiations at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, according to an indigenous representative. Indigenous Peoples are being left with a bitter taste from the draft text of a protocol intended to protect against misappropriation of genetic resources and ensure the sharing of the benefits which arise from use of those resources under discussion by negotiators who may not hold the views of those peoples. The latest version of the draft protocol was issued today

Climate-Ready Crop Patents Present Danger For Biodiversity, Group Says

NAGOYA, JAPAN - A civil society group this week warned government officials gathered here against patents on “climate-ready” crops and what they characterised as an attempt to obtain an exclusive monopoly over plant gene sequences. The group asked states at the United Nations biodiversity conference to recognise that such patents are a threat to biodiversity and to the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources.

Negotiators Persist On Biodiversity Benefit-Sharing Treaty Despite Slipping Deadlines

NAGOYA, JAPAN - The monumental statue in the courtyard of the Nagoya Congress Center, featuring a warrior on his horse, could be an illustration of the work of the group of officials charged with negotiating a much-anticipated international treaty to protect genetic resources from misappropriation and justly reward provider countries. Meeting over the weekend, they could not find consensus on the text and will have to request another deadline from the United Nations meeting on biodiversity on Monday.

Biodiversity Negotiators Move Treaty Text Forward; Deadline Pushed To Monday

NAGOYA, JAPAN – Officials negotiating this week on an international agreement to stop misuse of genetic resources appear to have reached minimal consensus on additional articles of the draft text under negotiation, though many specific areas of disagreement were resolved, they said. A Friday deadline for completion was pushed to Monday in the hope they can resolve deeper differences on fundamental issues such as traditional knowledge and compliance.

Emerging Economies’ New Initiative On Falsified And Substandard Medicines

Several major generic-medicine producing nations last week held a discussion on the dangers of compromised medical products and joined together to urge new steps such as defining terms, focussing on public health and strengthening national regulatory capabilities beyond strictly enforcement actions that they say have been manipulated and at times counterproductive.

Indigenous Groups Allege Canadian Obstructionism To Biodiversity ABS Protocol

NAGOYA, JAPAN - With the clock ticking and less than a day to go before a draft of a legally binding instrument to prevent biopiracy is due to be presented to the assembly of a major United Nations meeting on biodiversity, delegations kept trying to find acceptable language, with different echoes coming from the negotiating room. Meanwhile, Canadian indigenous people convened a press briefing today (21 October) to charge that Canada was trying to block the negotiations and deny their human rights.