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Aysegül Sirakaya and Torsten Krause ahead of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15)

Aysegül Sirakaya and Torsten Krause. Photo.
The issue of equitable sharing of benefits is not new, but something must be done about the imbalance between those that provide the genetic resources and those that strengthen their science and economy by using them, says Aysegül Sirakaya

The upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal will feature many discussions on the fairness and equity between those who provide biodiversity and those who utilise them. In an article published on lu.se, Aysegül Sirakaya and Torsten Krause, two of the members of the Pufendorf IAS Advanced Study Group Benefit-sharing of Genetic Resources, discusses the historical and interconnected challenges of biodiversity.

– The Global South does not want the Global North, which has technology and money, to take genetic resources from the South and earn money from it without giving something back. So, the issue of equitable sharing of benefits is not new, but something must be done about the imbalance between those that provide the genetic resources and those that strengthen their science and economy by using them. There is still a lack of trust between the North and South, says Aysegül Sirakaya

Read the full article "UN conference: Is it time for biodiversity to take centre stage?" at lu.se

Video interview with Aysegül Sirakaya

About the researchers

Aysegul Sirakaya is a researcher at the Faculty of Law in Lund and a specialist in the Nagoya Protocol.  Aysegül will participate in COP15 to follow the discussions about an equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources. 

Torsten Krause is a senior lecturer at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies. His research focuses on, among other things, Amazon deforestation and policy issues relating to biodiversity. 

Both researchers are members of the ASG Benefit-sharing of Genetic Resources at the Pufendorf IAS.

About the Advanced Study Group

The ASG Benefit-sharing of Genetic Resources debates the many dimensions of benefit-sharing in the context of genetic resources, having identified a lack of universally accepted definitions, objectives, and methods of benefit-sharing available for the members of the scientific community and wider stakeholder groups.

Read more about the ASG here

 

About COP15 in Montreal and the Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was created at the UN’s Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992 and began to apply in 1993.

Two protocols were subsequently added to the Convention, the Cartagena Protocol (concerning how to protect biodiversity from risks associated with genetically modified crops) and the Nagoya Protocol (concerning access to genetic resources and an equitable sharing of income and benefits arising from the use them). 

In 2010, the international community adopted a strategic plan, the Aichi Targets, regarding measures to improve the biodiversity situation during the period 2011-2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no new framework has been put in place for the period after 2020. A Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is therefore one of the goals for COP15 in Montreal, 7-19 December. 

Read more:

UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) (unep.org)

Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd.int)