6th Science Policy Forum for Biodiversity COP 16 Cali S13

Description of the session

Background:

The Nagoya Protocol has its 10^th anniversary since its adoption in 2014. This is an opportunity to consider its achievements, learnt lessons and to look ahead¹. The inclusion of Digital Sequence Information in the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) process is a next step that needs careful considerations in order to prevent any slowing down of basic and applied research.

Topics:

The session focuses on the perspective of bioscientists in all biological disciplines on ABS and DSI, and how important open access, open science and cooperation are for propelling knowledge gain, understanding molecular and organismic systems and interactions, and to develop solutions for the threatening global challenges. Nowadays, the use of DSI is a crucial and integrated component of almost all biological science disciplines, and to this end data bases play the central role. We will present convincing research examples of scientific progress that relied on free access to DSI. If implementing ABS practices for DSI in the fields of fundamental and applied research it will be of utmost importance to appreciate various kinds of non-monetary benefit sharing as an important ABS mechanism. Non-monetary benefit sharing is achieved, e.g. by realizing in-kind support, publishing knowledge and close cooperation. It will be discussed how regulatory hurdles in the use of DSI in basic and applied research might hamper and delay urgently needed innovation and progress in research on biodiversity, conservation biology, agricultural use of biodiversity and in the field of One Health. From the bioscientist’s perspective, there is the need to establish a simple and broad