From my very first day stepping into the Kent Law School, I knew that my student experience here would be exciting and utterly unique. The LLM courses delivered in a blended lecture / seminar format open up stimulating thought- provoking discussions on the complexity of contemporary legal issues. So far, the first seminar of the International Environmental Law- Legal Foundations module was particularly interesting for me. Following the Socrate’s method, Professor Martin Hedemann Robinson encouraged us to explore the reasons that could justify the existence of different environmental conventional regimes while shedding light on the contextuality of the international environmental law. Throughout our discussion, we concluded, inter alia, that the urged need to establish rules governing the use of biodiversity is inextricably linked to the imperative goal of achieving sustainable development.
Arguably, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (hereinafter Nagoya Protocol) represents an exemplary legal agreement built on the key correlation between biodiversity and sustainable development. This landmarking Protocol under the umbrella of the CBD entered into force on 12 October 2014, following its ratification by fifty countries. After six years of intense treaty negotiations, the Supplementary Protocol was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its tenth meeting on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The significance of the Protocol lies heavily in that it establishes a robust legal framework that aims to ensure the effective implementation of the third objective of the CBD, namely the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
The newly-adopted Protocol envisions providing a strong basis for greater legal certainty and transparency for both users (countries that use the resources -usually developed countries-) and providers (countries of origin of the resources or Party that acquired them -usually developing countries-) of genetic resources. In this context, Protocol calls the Parties to take domestic measures so as to ensure that access to genetic material is subject to prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms (Art. 6). Similarly sharing the benefits deriving from the utilization of the genetic resources for commercial, research or other purposes is based on mutually agreed terms (Art.5). It is worth mentioning that the benefits for the providers in exchange for permitting access to their genetic resources can be monetary or non-monetary such as technology transfer, joint research and capacity building activities. As to traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and held by indigenous and local communities, the Parties are expected to follow the same practice which means that they are required to take measures to ensure prior informed consent and fair and equitable benefit-sharing with these communities, keeping in mind community laws and procedures as well as customary use and exchange (Art.8).
Undoubtedly, the fact that providers are entitled to benefits arising from the utilization of their genetic resources gives them a fresh impetus to conserve their biological diversity, thus contributing further to sustainable development. As Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity pointed out: “The Nagoya Protocol is central to biodiversity for sustainable development. Its entry into force will create incentives for preserving genetic diversity, biodiversity in general, and associated traditional knowledge. It will provide the conditions for continuous research and development on genetic resources. But most importantly, the Protocol will give us the opportunity to develop an economy that is more sustainable and where the value of natural resources will be truly acknowledged”.
I feel excited about my LLM in International Law at Kent University and I look forward to continuing my critical exploration to unmapped sociopolitical dimensions of contemporary international law issues.
Sources: UNEP
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