Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for users of biological genetic resources originated from foreign countries

Abstract

The Article 15.1 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) provides that recognizing the sovereign rights of States over their natural resources, the authority to determine access to genetic resources rests with the national governments. In the use of biological genetic resources (BGRs) of other countries, a prior informed consent (PIC) from the providing country is needed at first and mutually agreed terms need to be concluded between the provider and the user under the PIC. In this article, an issue of the Access and Benefit-sharing in CBD is outlined, and the way how to access to BGRs in other countries is discussed introducing the NITE-Mongol project as a case study. Also, the benefit-sharing matter, the traditional knowledge in the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol are discussed.