2014 Volume 30 Issue 2 Pages 85-96
The Asian Consortium for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Microbial Resources (ACM) was established in 2004. Currently 23 organisations in 13 countries (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) are members of the ACM. The objective of the ACM is to promote collaboration among governments and public organisations in Asian countries for enhancing conservation and sustainable use of microbial resources in Asia. Having recognized the importance of Microbial Resource Centres (MRCs) in the development of microbiology, a new scheme titled the ‘Network of International Exchange of Microbes under the ACM (NIEMA)’ has been developed by the Task Force of Management of Material Transfer (MMT-TF) in the ACM. This scheme proposes a legitimate and streamlined way of transferring and utilizing microbial resources in line with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (NP).
