The CIM organizes a conference that analyzes the Nagoya Protocol and the regulation of the use and exchange of genetic resources

The Nagoya Protocol pursues a fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. Its implementation and the associated legislation is complex and involves a high administrative burden with which the research staff is not usually familiar. To bring them closer to the keys to its application, the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo (CIM-UVigo), coordinator of the European Blue Biobank (EBB) project, organized this Friday, in collaboration with the Cetmar Foundation, a technical conference to give to know the existing duties to access and use genetic resources derived from this protocol and its regulations.

The conference was held at Cetmar with full capacity and focused on the application of the Nagoya Protocol in the marine field. The purpose was to inform the attendees about the duties and requirements established in the legislation, as well as to present and analyze examples of commercial and non-commercial use of marine resources within the scope of the protocol. In addition, this meeting also presented the Guide to good practices for access to genetic resources, developed within the framework of the EBB project. The session included, among others, Noelia Vallejo, Spanish national focal point for the Nagoya Protocol of the Ministry for Ecological Transition; Alejandro Lago, head of the UNDP-GEF ABS Global project and Fiz de la Costa, researcher at CIM-UVigo and head of the EBB project.

More transparency and legal certainty

The Nagoya Protocol, in line with the guidelines of the Convention on Biological Diversity, has the fundamental objective of sharing the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, taking into account all the rights over these resources and technologies, thus contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.

The signatory countries of this agreement undertake to establish measures to ensure that access to the genetic resources used in their jurisdiction is “in accordance with the national framework of the supplying country, thus committing themselves to fight biopiracy,” as the Ministry itself explains. Ecological Transition. To make this possible, the 92 member countries commit to establish control points and require users of genetic resources to bring information about them, mainly through the compliance certificate, if any. “This will result in greater transparency in the sectors that use genetic resources and in a more fluid and constant transfer of benefits to provider countries, thus contributing to the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the reduction of poverty ”, he maintains in the ministry.

In practice, these guidelines mean that potential users of genetic resources must obtain the prior informed consent of the country in which the resource is located and negotiate and agree on the terms and conditions of access and use. Thus, the protocol offers a framework of greater legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources and helps to guarantee benefit-sharing as well as to generate advances in the field of conservation R&D and sustainable use of genetic resources.

The CIM-UVigo´s activities are cofunded by the European Union through the ERDF Operational Program Galicia 2014-2020.

Source: DUVI