Oxfam Novib has co-authored a white paper, ‘Sharing in Collaborative Innovation’, which elaborates Dutch stakeholder perspectives on international developments in access and benefit-sharing’. The white paper was presented to the Dutch Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, Mr. Jaimi van Essen, during the High Level Segment of the COP17 in Armenia last week.
Progress on the discussion on accessing plant genetic resources (seeds) and equitably and fairly sharing benefits of their commercial use, has stalled. Discussions – including within the CBD – have polarized. Acknowledging the need for building bridges to overcome entrenched positions, Oxfam Novib joined an ad hoc sounding board of Dutch actors including Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN), Plantum and other stakeholders, to explore solution pathways out of the current stalemate. The paper as such explores common ground, and calls for improved alignment of existing global ABS instruments.
The paper doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but it shows where Dutch actors agree – and where there is still work to do. Whereas this paper has a user country bias, the authors appreciate perspectives from provider countries and groups, and subscribe to the need for fair and equitable benefit sharing; as a logical counterpart of access to genetic resources. Oxfam Novib stresses the historical and institutional context of global economic inequalities, which resulted in a global unlevel playing field for countries and biodiversity users alike. Amplifying voices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in global debates about crop diversity and genetic resources, advocating for fair and equitable sharing of both monetary and non-monetary benefits arising from the use of genetic resources – and protecting Indigenous biodiversity knowledge remain our priorities.
In Yerevan, the white paper was presented by Marcel Beukeboom from Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Bertram Zagema from Oxfam Novib and Bob Kreiken and Martin Brink from Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands.
Read the report below or access using by clicking here.
