UNU Update: Managing genetic resources

	UNU Update
	The newsletter of United Nations University and its network of research and training centres and programmes
		Issue 21: November-December 2002

Need for new ideas on
managing genetic resources

There is an urgent need for new ideas on how countries can develop their capacity to manage their genetic resources, according to Prof. A.H. Zakri, director of UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS).

Prof. Zakri was welcoming delegates to a scoping meeting on access and benefit sharing (ABS) issues, convened by UNU/IAS and UN Environment Programme, and held in Kuala Lumpur October 7-9. The objective of the meeting – Capacity Building Approaches for Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing – was to exchange ideas and develop concrete proposals to address the capacity building needs of many countries.

An important goal of the meeting was also to identify complementary approaches to the Bonn Guidelines and to consider capacity building needs of developing countries in developing regimes that promote benefit sharing of the use of genetic resources.

Experts from all regions of the globe and from a wide variety of sectors, including government departments, non-governmental organisations, inter-governmental organisations, private sector, scientists, and indigenous peoples organisations participated in the meeting and agreed that capacities for the following activities require further development:

effective engagement of stakeholders in decision-making at all levels;
promotion of negotiation skills;
effective communication of relevant information, in particular, more effective dissemination of ongoing international processes and relevant international decisions;
promotion of basic awareness of access and benefit-sharing issues;
evaluation of existing legislative and policy frameworks for access and benefit-sharing regimes;
cooperation between relevant government institutions;
development of mechanisms to ensure that all genetic resources imported were acquired and are used in accordance with the requirements of the provider and remedies where these requirements are not respected;
development of technologies that promote the sustainable use and/or knowledge of genetic resources; and
promotion of awareness, information gathering and analysis of existing markets for genetic resources.

These recommendations be submitted to the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity for use by the Open-ended Expert Workshop on Capacity-Building for Access and Benefit Sharing and the second meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing and other relevant processes. The results of the meeting will help UNU/IAS and UNEP focus their efforts to better meet the needs of countries which are developing and implementing ABS regimes.

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