The second day of the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was more laidback despite seven press meetings, 36 side events, two special meetings, one working group meeting open to journalists and 19 closed events. The negotiations are in the initial stages of discussions and outcomes are still far ahead.
Among the many issues that are being discussed by the negotiators, the discussions on the multilateral system of benefit sharing for the use of digital sequence information (DSI) of genetic resources is quite polarised.
Access and benefit sharing (ABS) and DSI are both part of target 13 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and you can read more about the issues in the factsheet published recently by the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based think tank.
Discussions on ABS and DSI were part of many of the 36 side events on day two of the meeting and I attended two during the day.
A meeting orgnaised by ABS Capacity Building Initiative discussed ways to increase benefit sharing on tangible resources. Among the speakers was Cecil Le Fleur, chairperson of the Khoi and San Council in South Africa, who shared experiences with rooibos. This is one of the few success stories that are there on ABS.
The plant, Aspalathus linearis, is very popular as a herbal tea as the brew is free of caffeine, low in tannins and has health benefits. In 2010, Swiss company Nestlé filed five patents on products prepared from rooibos and these were contested by the San and Khoi indigenous communities who live in areas where this plant grows.
The South African government asked the company to share benefits arising from the use of this resource with the communities and in 2014, Nestlé agreed to share 3 per cent of its net sales with the community. To ensure that communities benefit from other industries profiting from rooibos, the government facilitated an agreement between 10 processors and the San and Khoi, wherein the communities would receive 1.5 per cent of the farm-gate price (net price after cutting marketing costs) annually.
In July 2022, the industry paid 12.2 million rand (around $709,000) to organisations that represent the communities.
However, such success stories are rare and users generally do not want to share profits. This is why discussions on DSI which are being finalised are so important so that benefit sharing here is more and better.
Industry is strongly against strict benefit sharing requirements on the use of DSI and this was more than clear in the side event organised by DSI Scientific Network where experts suggested that benefit sharing requirements would adversely impact research.
They have issues with both monetary and non-monetary benefit sharing which are part of the DSI negotiations. As non commercial users, researchers need to share non monetary benefits. But they are of the view that special processes are not needed and the fact that they are sharing the genetic sequence in an open source database means that they are fulfilling the requirement.
However, as there are no requirements to share benefits on open source data, communities do not get anything out of this. I am specifically following this issue and the concerns raised by different groups so keep following the COP16 reportage on Down To Earth.
Meanwhile, plans are already underway for the next COP and CBD has received offers from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Armenia. The region has to come to a consensus and if they cannot, there would be a vote.