A new international regime: how does it affect botanic gardens?

Kate Davis

CBD Unit, Conventions and Policy Section,

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Eurogard IV

18-22 Sept 2006, Prague

Outline

• Why an international regime on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing?

• What might change?

• Why is this relevant to botanic gardens?

• What can botanic gardens do and how can we be involved?

Access and benefit-sharing:‘the grand bargain’

• The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources

Article 15

• Follow national laws

• Facilitate access

• Excludes pre-CBD

• Prior informed consent

• Mutually agreed terms

• Research with/in countries of origin

• Benefit-sharing

National legislation on access and benefit-sharing

Legislation in place Planning legislation

ABS timeline

• 1992 – CBD opened for signature

• 1993 – CBD comes into force

• 2001 – ABS working group drafts Bonn Guidelines

ABS Guidelines drafted in Bonn, 2001

• 2002 – COP6 adopts Bonn Guidelines

• 2002 – World Summit on Sustainable Development – call for new international regime

• 2004 – COP7 sets terms of reference for international regime negotiations

• 2006 – COP8 sets deadline for end of negotiations by 2010

• 2007 – Technical expert group to discuss certificates of origin

Why an international regime?

• Bonn Guidelines voluntary

• Perceived over-emphasis on provider country actions

• Need for compliance and enforcement in ‘user’ countries

• Fears of biopiracy

• Re-open debate

What kind of international regime?

• A new treaty? Or linkage between existing instruments?

– Bonn Guidelines, International Treaty on PGRFA, CITES, WIPO, TRIPs

• Same everywhere, or different?

• What are the current gaps in ABS?

Controversies

• Legally-binding?

• Facilitate access?

• Derivatives?

• Traditional knowledge?

• Who’s involved?

www.bourzeix.com/weblog/images/galleries/blender/sharks.jpg

What’s new?

• Focus on compliance by ‘users’

– Disclosure of origin/source in

applications for intellectual property

rights

– Certificates of origin/source/legal

provenance for genetic resources

(GRs)

• We are ‘users’!©cambridge2000.com

Certificates of origin/source/legal provenance

• Mechanism to prove legal origin of/right to use GRs

• Who can issue a certificate?

• What should be certificated?

– All genetic resources, pre/post CBD?

– GRs collected for commercial purposes only?

– Groups of specimens? Individual specimens? Samples/derivatives?

– GRs collected under 1 agreement?

Certificates

• Tracking backwards and/or forwards?

• Duplicates, samples, progeny?

• Paper, barcodes or alphanumeric code?

• Checkpoints?

• Facilitation/exemption for non-commercial collections?

• Who benefits and who pays the costs?

• …What’s the alternative?

‘Life of a specimen’ case studies

• Smithsonian Institution

– 500,000 transactions/year

• Natural History Museum

– £22m to digitise all botanical specimens

– £142m to digitise & barcode

• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

– low risk (herbarium specimens) vs high risk (seeds)

Collections Management Unit Kew Herbarium

Exchange at Kew (2004)

20003100 (some from Kew)DNA bank

2000Living collections

6003800Seed Bank

24000 + 11000 loans37000 + 13000 loans 6300 from Kew fieldwork

Herbarium

Supply/LoanAcquisitionsCollection

1200

Implications?

• New access procedures

• More formal agreements (access and transfer)

• Clearer distinction between commercial and non-commercial use?

• Interest in use of ex situ collections for bioprospecting?

• More tracking and reporting for everyone

• Greater need to understand, network and lobby

Now what?

© Kate Davis

Institutional use and exchange

Get material/ information

legally

…with PIC & mutually

agreed terms

Use according to

terms of acquisition

Supply according to

terms of acquisition

Institution

Guidelines, codes & tools

• Principles on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing

– Framework to cover acquisition (in situ and ex situ), use, supply, written agreements, curation, commercialisation, benefit-sharing

• International Plant Exchange Network (IPEN)

– Code of conduct; facilitated exchange of living plants for non-commercial use

• Swiss good practice guide

– Guidance for academic research; case studies

• ABS Management Tool

– Guidance/system for users & providers

‘Principles’ group Pilot project for Botanic Gardens

Cartagena, 2000

Kew tools

• ABS policy based on Principles

• Intranet staff guide to CBD

• Staff training (CBD/CITES/plant health)

Training course

Donation letter

• Overseas Fieldwork Committee

• Agreements with partner institutions

• Standard documents

– Donation form

– Standard Material Supply Agreement

– Use letter

• Benefit-sharing trust fund for plant auction

Stay in the loop

• Meet your CBD National Focal Point

• Keep in touch with (or join!) your country’s CBD delegation

• How would certificates/disclosure affect your institution?

• And how would this affect your country’s ability to contribute to CBD goals?

Show you’re worth it

• Build trust

– Adopt institutional ABS policy

– Be clear about research links to universities/industry, bioprospecting and intent to commercialise

– Work on ‘housekeeping’

• Demonstrate (and keep track of) effective benefit-sharing

• Contribute to national CBD reports

Prepare for debate: questions for collections

• What kinds of collections does your garden hold?

• Do you do fieldwork abroad?

• Do you currently have a policy? A Material Supply Agreement?

• Do you database your specimens? (All/some?)

• Specimen flow: how many transfers in and out? (Loans/donations/samples)

• Do you track transfers? How?

• How do you keep track of special terms on specimens?

• Do you have links to universities? How do you accept/supply material?

• Do you have links to industry? (Pharmaceutical/botanicals/agricultural/horticultural)

• Do you have plant sales? What kinds of plants do you sell?

• What types of benefits do you share? How?

Further information

• CBD website www.biodiv.org

• Principles, IPEN, ABS case studies www.bgci.org/abs

• Swiss good practice guide http://abs.scnat.ch

• CBD for Botanists www.kew.org/data/cbdbotanists.html

• ABS Management Tool www.iisd.org/abs

• Science and Development Network www.scidev.net

Kew CBD Unit cbdunit@kew.org

www.kew.org/conservation