IUCN Calls on Governments to Empower Knowledge-Holders
The Hague, The Netherlands, 15 April 2002 (IUCN) – “Equity and sustainability are at the heart of the Convention of Biological Diversity, but they are also its greatest challenges, says Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General. “All countries have a shared mandate and incentive to ensure that benefits of biological resources and the burdens of their conservation are equitably shared both among nations and with the indigenous peoples and local communities who have historically contributed to their protection.”
As the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), attending a two-week conference in The Netherlands, expect to adopt the first-ever Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Sustainable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilization – also known as the “Bonn Guidelines” – IUCN calls on governments to take measures to ensure that access and benefit-sharing under the Convention benefit all the “providers” of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and do not perpetuate the imbalances between their “users” and “producers”.
Each day, the world discovers new ways to use genetic resources; new resistant crops are created, pharmaceuticals are invented. The contribution of southern biodiversity to northern pharmaceutical industry has been conservatively valued at US$32 million per year. As potentially large sums of money are at stake, it is essential that the interests of developing countries, indigenous and local communities do not get subordinated to the interests of more powerful groups.
The Hague, The Netherlands, 15 April 2002 (IUCN) – “Equity and sustainability are at the heart of the Convention of Biological Diversity, but they are also its greatest challenges, says Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General. “All countries have a shared mandate and incentive to ensure that benefits of biological resources and the burdens of their conservation are equitably shared both among nations and with the indigenous peoples and local communities who have historically contributed to their protection.”
As the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), attending a two-week conference in The Netherlands, expect to adopt the first-ever Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Sustainable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilization – also known as the “Bonn Guidelines” – IUCN calls on governments to take measures to ensure that access and benefit-sharing under the Convention benefit all the “providers” of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and do not perpetuate the imbalances between their “users” and “producers”.
Each day, the world discovers new ways to use genetic resources; new resistant crops are created, pharmaceuticals are invented. The contribution of southern biodiversity to northern pharmaceutical industry has been conservatively valued at US$32 million per year. As potentially large sums of money are at stake, it is essential that the interests of developing countries, indigenous and local communities do not get subordinated to the interests of more powerful groups.