BENELEX research feeds into consultancies to the UN and European Commission
BENELEX PI Elisa Morgera carried out two international consultancies in 2015, to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the European Commission respectively, which have drawn upon the preliminary findings of the BENELEX project.
Prof Morgera was awarded an international consultancy by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to review and analyse experiences gained with the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing to the CBD, as well as case studies on ex situ and in situ genetic resources, traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and transboundary situations. In addition, the consultancy analysed experiences gained in other multilateral benefit-sharing mechanisms, and assess the potential relevance of ongoing work undertaken by other international processes.
The consultancy report has now been published online as an official UN document at https://www.cbd.int/…/…/official/abs-a10em-2016-01-02-en.pdf, and is expected to inform ongoing intergovernmental negotiations on the possible creation of a global, multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism under the Nagoya Protocol, which would be used to support the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of its components globally. Prof Morgera is scheduled to present the study, via videoconference, at the Expert Group Meeting on Article 10 of the Nagoya Protocol, which will be held in Montreal, Canada from 1-2 February 2015.
In addition, Professor Morgera and Miranda Geelhoed, a 2014 graduate in the LLM in Global Environment and Climate Change Law, were awarded a consultancy from the European Commission to support the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing in the European Union (EU). The consultancy aimed at enhancing understanding of the legal definition of "utilisation" of genetic resources and of traditional knowledge under the Nagoya Protocol and under implementing legislation in the EU. It entailed legal analysis, as well as carrying out a series of interviews with different upstream users (collections and research institutes) in the EU. The consultancy report has been made available by the European Commission at http://tinyurl.com/hnn6weq
New BENELEX open-access publications
L Parks and E Morgera, "The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach to Norm Diffusion: The Case of Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing" (2015) 24:3 Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law 353-367 - open access at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/reel.12143/abstract
E Morgera, "Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing at the Cross-roads of the Human Right to Science and International Biodiversity Law" (2015) 4 Laws 803-831 - open access at http://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/4/4/803
Finally, BENELEX researcher Elsa Tsioumani has published with Mike Muzurakis, Yannis Ieropoulos and Asterios Tsioumanis, "Following the Open Source Trail Outside the Digital World: Open Source Applications in Agricultural Research and Development" (2016) 14 tripleC 145-162 - open access at bit.ly/1lv2pBx