Genetic resources.

Book chapter

1 online resource (Chapter 1, pp. 218-240).

This chapter provides an overview of key legal instruments and institutions concerning the governance of genetic resources that are found in areas subject to national jurisdiction. The main normative focus of this chapter will be twofold. It will consider the increasingly pervasive role of international law in providing general norms, notably through the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS), on the one hand, as well as specialized norms, such as in the areas of health and agriculture, on the other. The chapter also highlights that, notwithstanding the proliferation of overlapping layers of regulation, the ongoing endeavour to capture and share the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a more sustainable and equitable fashion is likely to raise legitimate expectations as much as unrealistic ones. It explains why it is so and suggests possible ways forward to address the most outstanding regulatory gap within the international regime on ABS.

Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources Edited by Elisa Morgera and Kati Kulovesi Edward Elgar

Northampton, England : Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2016.

English