The Need for Permit Management within Biodiversity Collection Management Systems to Digitally Track Legal Compliance Documentation and Increase Transparency About Origins and Uses

Abstract

A growing number of domestic and international legal issues are confronting biodiversity collections, which require immediate access to information documenting the legal aspects of specimen ownership and restrictions regarding use. The Nagoya Protocol, which entered into force in 2014, established a legal framework for access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources and has notable implications for collecting, researchers working with specimens, and biodiversity collections. Herein, we discuss how this international protocol mandates operating changes within US biodiversity collections. Given the new legal landscape, it is clear that digital solutions for tracking records at all stages of a specimen's life cycle are needed. We outline how the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) has made changes to its procedures and museum-wide database, MCZbase (an independent instance of the Arctos collections management system), linking legal compliance documentation to specimens and transactions (i.e., accessions, loans). We used permits, certificates, and agreements associated with MCZ specimens accessioned in 2018 as a means to assess a new module created to track compliance documentation, a controlled vocabulary categorizing these documents, and the automatic linkages established among documentation, specimens, and transactions. While the emphasis of this work was a single year test case, its successful implementation may be informative to policies and collection management systems at other institutions.

Arctos: Community-driven innovations for managing biodiversity and cultural collections

“…Arctos has a long track record as a model for "next-generation collections" and associated interdisciplinary research that addresses current and future societal challenges [17,[45][46][47]. Arctos' longevity of nearly three decades may be due in part to its core development principles of standardization, flexibility, interdisciplinarity, and connectivity within a nimble development model for addressing novel needs and information types in response to changing technology, workflows, ethical considerations, and regulations [33,[48][49][50]. The sustainability and importance of maintaining these networked and interconnected technologies ultimately becomes premised on reliable funding.…”

“…Permit metadata, on the other hand, are shared among collections and can be linked to accessions, loans, and borrows (the permits themselves are private unless a collection chooses otherwise). This facilitates the management of permits, material transfer agreements, memoranda of understanding, and other documentation for compliance with state, federal, and international (e.g., CITES, Nagoya) regulations [33]. It also allows specimens or objects acquired by one collection under its permit(s) to be accessioned into a different collection using the same permit(s).…”

“…470aa-470mm; Public Law 96-95 and amendments).Likewise, encumbrances restrict usage of collection objects and data according to permit conditions and material transfer agreements (e.g. Nagoya Protocol[33]).…”

Opportunities to Foster Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: A Role for Scientists

“…Moreover, investigators are required to comply with the Nagoya Protocol even if the researcher is based in a non‐party country (e.g., the United States and Canada), or the country in which the researcher is based has no regulations (e.g., United Kingdom and Denmark; Kumar 2018). Researchers are also finding that significantly more time is necessary to remain compliant before, during, and after sample collection (Zimkus et al 2021). Not surprisingly, the governments that implemented restrictive laws pursuant to the Nagoya Protocol have seen marked declines in potential users and, consequently, the resulting benefits (Kumar 2018).…”

“…For example, a world‐renowned research collection recently updated its museum‐wide database so that it can link legal compliance documentation to specimens and transactions (i.e., accessions, loans). This effort required an analysis of the legal landscape, changing policies and practices, use of cyberinfrastructure, engaging with stakeholders, and implementing capacity building at the institutional level (Zimkus et al 2021). For the Treaty, developed and developing countries may wish to understand the benefits and costs associated with any new requirements that would need to be implemented at the national level.…”