As part of an agreement signed this week with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, the university will train scientists from developing countries in in-vitro and cryogenic techniques.
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For businesses utilizing genetic resources, the new Protocol is particular important, but for all businesses, the broader objective is to ensure social equity with respect to the use of all biological resources.
It represents a dramatic step forward in the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
More specifically, it allows access to genetic resources based on prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms, while ensuring that the benefits arising from the development of those resources are shared with the local provider.
On the last day, after intense negotiations, the meeting agreed an important new international protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation (known as Access and Benefit-Sharing, ABS).
This article is based on a report co-authored by Salvatore Arico and Charlotte Salpin and published in 2005 by the Institute of Advanced Study of the United Nations University, entitled Bio-prospecting of Genetic Resources in the Deep Seabed.
In addition to the Aichi Targets, an example of the progress we are making is the adoption at COP10 of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization.
Firstly, as this newly discovered 'blue gold' is mostly located in international waters, making it extra-territorial in international law, it can be argued that the genetic resources living in the deep sea belong to humanity as a whole and therefore ought to be exploited equitably.
It formalizes the relationship between those who want to use the genetic resources of a given area, say as a basis for developing cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, and those who live in the region where the resources are found, for example an indigenous community in the Amazon.
The IYB activities, including those of UNESCO, contributed significantly to the successful outcome of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) which took place in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010 where a new ten-year strategic plan and a new international treaty on access and benefit sharing from genetic resources were adopted.
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