Fair and Equitable Benefit-Sharing in a New Treaty on Marine Biodiversity: A Principled Approach Towards Partnership Building?

Abstract

This article suggests a principled approach to the negotiations on benefit-sharing from the use of marine genetic resources under a new international legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). It first reflects on the terms in which benefit-sharing has been discussed in the BBNJ negotiations until now, which have been characterized by an operational concern for the type of benefits that could be accrued and distributed. It then contrasts the negotiations with insights arising from other international benefit-sharing regimes, with a view to suggesting a more principled approach focused on 'sharing' benefits 'fairly and equitably. ' This helps highlight the potential value added of benefit-sharing to foster deeper and cosmopolitan international cooperation (that is, a global partnership) vis-à-vis existing international obligations on marine scientific research, capacity building, marine technology transfer and the protection of the marine environment. The article then applies these considerations to the thorny and novel question of digital information on marine genetic resources of areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Stakeholder Perspectives on Access and Benefit-Sharing for Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

“…Such collections are also of potential interest to the private sector (Leary et al, 2009). Collaborative projects between members of the scientific research community and the private sector, perhaps in the form of joint research projects or even joint ventures, could be useful for advancing R&D with goals of conservation and sustainable use (Morgera, 2018b). It has been suggested by Ardron et al (2014) that cooperation, both intra-and inter-sectorally as well as between sectors and conservation agreements is required to ensure the conservation and long-term sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ.…”

The ocean genome and future prospects for conservation and equity

“…Investments in marine biodiscovery are typically extremely costly and risky due in part to the high costs of sampling in areas like the deep sea, the low chances of success, the technical, financial and scientific investments required, and the considerable regulatory hurdles for product approval (Fig. 2) 89,90 . The nature of the research enterprise is also changing, as research shifts towards bioinformatics and the mining and exploration of these vast and growing datasets of genetic information ( Fig.…”

“…One opportunity rests in the development of research partnerships that connect countries that have high molecular research capacity and biotechnology infrastructure with those that do not, with such partnerships guided by norms of inclusive innovation and those of responsible research and innovation 90,104 . Taking an explicit focus on those excluded from the development mainstream, inclusive innovation is a conceptual approach for ensuring that innovation both addresses the problems faced by the poorest and most marginalized communities 105 , and also involves these communities in crafting a range of legal, technical and governance-based solutions 101,102 .…”

Access to Marine Genetic Resources (MGR): Raising Awareness of Best-Practice Through a New Agreement for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)

“…A few commentators have pointed out that these monetary benefits have gained a prominence out of scale to their likelihood and without any evidence of their importance to date, similar to the anticipated 'green-gold' of the Nagoya Protocol discussions that failed to eventuate (Leary, 2019). Recently, more attention has been paid to the merits of non-monetary benefits (Leary and Juniper, 2013;Broggiato et al, 2018;Morgera, 2018). The so called 'non-monetary' benefits of participation in marine scientific research, access to research results, data and collections, and other elements of technology transfer and capacity building present elements of a solution to the MGR 'problem' (IISD, 2018).…”