Principles and Approaches in the Convention on Biological Diversity and Other Biodiversity-Related Conventions in the Post-2020 Scenario

AbstractI address a contentious element in forest property relations to illustrate the role of ownership in protecting and expanding of forest cover by examining the extent to which rural communities may legally own forests. The premise is that whilst state-owned protected areas have contributed enormously to forest survival, this has been insufficiently successful to justify the mass dispossession of customary land-owning communities this has entailed. Further, I argue that state co-option of community lands is unwarranted. Rural communities on all continents ably demonstrate the will and capacity to conserve forests – provided their customary ownership is legally recognized. I explore the property rights reforms now enabling this. The replication potential of community protected forestlands is great enough to deserve flagship status in global commitments to expand forest including in the upcoming new Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

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A global database of diversified farming effects on biodiversity and yield

Scientific Data ◽

10.1038/s41597-021-01000-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sarah K. Jones ◽

Andrea C. Sánchez ◽

Stella D. Juventia ◽

Natalia Estrada-Carmona

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Food Production ◽

Food Systems ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Sustainable Food ◽

Global Database ◽

Diversified Farming Systems

AbstractWith the Convention on Biological Diversity conference (COP15), United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), and United Nations Food Systems Summit, 2021 is a pivotal year for transitioning towards sustainable food systems. Diversified farming systems are key to more sustainable food production. Here we present a global dataset documenting outcomes of diversified farming practices for biodiversity and yields compiled following best standards for systematic review of primary studies and specifically designed for use in meta-analysis. The dataset includes 4076 comparisons of biodiversity outcomes and 1214 of yield in diversified farming systems compared to one of two reference systems. It contains evidence from 48 countries of effects on species from 33 taxonomic orders (spanning insects, plants, birds, mammals, eukaryotes, annelids, fungi, and bacteria) of diversified farming systems producing annual or perennial crops across 12 commodity groups. The dataset presented provides a resource for researchers and practitioners to easily access information on where diversified farming systems effectively contribute to biodiversity and food production outcomes.

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Asian Borderlands and the Legal Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions

Modern Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0026749x12000443 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 1403-1433 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

CHRISTOPH ANTONS

Keyword(s):

Intellectual Property ◽

United Nations ◽

Traditional Knowledge ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Legal Protection ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Cultural Property ◽

World Intellectual Property Organization ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Nuanced Understanding

AbstractTraditional knowledge related to biodiversity, agriculture, medicine and artistic expressions has recently attracted much interest amongst policy makers, legal academics and social scientists. Several United Nations organizations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Convention on Biological Diversity under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), have been working on international models for the protection of such knowledge held by local and indigenous communities. Relevant national, regional or provincial level legislation comes in the form of intellectual property laws and laws related to health, heritage or environmental protection. In practice, however, it has proven difficult to agree on definitions of the subject matter, to delineate local communities and territories holding the knowledge, and to clearly identify the subjects and beneficiaries of the protection. In fact, claims to ‘cultural property’ and heritage have led to conflicts and tensions between communities, regions and nations. This paper will use Southeast Asian examples and case studies to show the importance of concepts such as Zomia, ‘regions of refuge’ and mandala as well as ‘borderlands’ studies to avoid essentialized notions of communities and cultures in order to develop a nuanced understanding of the difficulties for national and international lawmaking in this field. It will also develop a few suggestions on how conflicts and tensions could be avoided or ameliorated.

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Protecting Traditional Knowledge Holders' Interests and Preventing Misappropriation—Traditional Knowledge Commons and Biocultural Protocols: Necessary but Not Sufficient?

International Journal of Cultural Property ◽

10.1017/s0940739112000252 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 401-422 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Krishna Ravi Srinivas

Keyword(s):

Informed Consent ◽

Traditional Knowledge ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Benefit Sharing ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Access And Benefit Sharing ◽

Nagoya Protocol ◽

Prior Informed Consent ◽

Knowledge Commons

AbstractThe experience of the indigenous communities regarding access and benefit sharing under the national regimes based on provisions of Convention on Biological Diversity and Bonn Guidelines has not been satisfactory. The communities expect that noncommercial values should be respected and misappropriation should be prevented. Some academics and civil society groups have suggested that traditional knowledge commons and biocultural protocols will be useful in ensuring that while noncommercial values are respected, access and benefit sharing takes place on conditions that are acceptable to the communities. This proposal is examined in this context in the larger context of access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity and implementing prior informed consent principles in access and benefit sharing. This article examines knowledge commons, provides examples from constructed commons in different sectors and situates traditional knowledge commons in the context of debates on commons and public domain. The major shortcomings of traditional commons and bicultural protocol are pointed out, and it is suggested that these are significant initiatives that can be combined with the Nagoya Protocol to fulfill the expectations of indigenous communities.

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Country Representatives’ Perceptions of the Biodiversity Science-Policy Interface

Conservation ◽

10.3390/conservation1020006 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 73-81

Author(s):

André Derek Mader ◽

Brian Alan Johnson ◽

Yuki Ohashi ◽

Isabella Fenstermaker

Keyword(s):

Science Policy ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Science And Policy ◽

Biodiversity Knowledge ◽

Biodiversity Science ◽

Science Policy Interface ◽

Adequate Quality ◽

The Subject

Biodiversity knowledge is communicated by scientists to policymakers at the biodiversity “science-policy interface” (SPI). Although the biodiversity SPI is the subject of a growing body of literature, gaps in our understanding include the efficacy of mechanisms to bridge the interface, the quality of information exchanged between science and policy, and the inclusivity of stakeholders involved. To improve this understanding, we surveyed an important but under-studied group—biodiversity policymakers and scientific advisors representing their respective countries in negotiations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We found that a wide variety of SPI mechanisms were being used. Overall, they were considered to be sufficiently effective, improving over time, and supplied with information of adequate quality. Most respondents, however, agreed that key actors were still missing from the biodiversity SPI.

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Beyond Unbridled Optimism and Fear: Indigenous Peoples, Intellectual Property, Human Rights and the Globalisation of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore: Part II

International Community Law Review ◽

10.1163/18719732-12341269 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 3-37

Author(s):

Caroline Joan S. Picart ◽

Marlowe Fox

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Intellectual Property ◽

Traditional Knowledge ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Nagoya Protocol ◽

Trade Law ◽

International Trade Law ◽

Traditional Cultural Expressions

Abstract In Part I of this two-part article, we explained why western assumptions built into intellectual property law make this area of law a problematic tool, as a way of protecting traditional knowledge (tk) and expressions of folklore (EoF) or traditional cultural expressions (tce) of indigenous peoples. Part II of this article aims to: 1) provide a brief review of the Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd) and the Nagoya Protocol, and examine the evolution of the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples from the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (trips Agreement) to the cbd to the Nagoya Protocol; and 2) examine possible core principles, inducted (rather than deduced) from actual practices already in place in the areas of patents, copyrights, and trademarks in relation to protecting tk and EoF. These explorations could allow for discussions regarding indigenous peoples, human rights and international trade law to become less adversarial.

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Recent Developments

Journal of African Law ◽

10.1017/s0021855304482072 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 268-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jon C. Lovett

Keyword(s):

Biological Diversity ◽

National Policy ◽

Plant Conservation ◽

Global Strategy ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

International Botanical ◽

International Botanical Congress ◽

The Status ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Essential Resource

At the 1999 International Botanical Congress held in St Louis, Missouri, the President of the Congress, Dr Peter Raven, presented a keynote address emphasizing the importance of plants to human existence and underlined concerns that the Earth is undergoing a human-induced extinction crisis. One of the resolutions of the congress was to establish a new co-ordinating body associated with the United Nations to monitor the status of plants throughout the world and take steps to conserve them. The resolutions were followed up with a meeting in Gran Canaria on 3–4 April, 2000 when leading botanists met to formulate a declaration which could be taken forward to the fifth Conference of the Parties (CoP5) to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nairobi in May 2000. CoP5 recognized that plant diversity is a common concern of humankind and an essential resource for the planet, with as many as two-thirds of the world's plant species in danger of extinction, and proposed that at the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP6) the establishment of a global strategy for plant conservation should be considered. A strategy with 16 targets was presented and adopted at the CoP6 meeting held in The Hague in April 2002. These targets differ from the normal approach adopted in the Convention on Biological Diversity of using general principles that can be interpreted by national policy, in that they are quantified.

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