Biological Prospecting in Antarctica – A Solution-Based Approach to Regulating the Collection and Use of Antarctic Marine Biodiversity by Taking the BBNJ Process into Account

Areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) are covering nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans and are rich in biological diversity. These also include the Polar Regions, where marine organisms adapted to extreme environments and led to increased scientific interest and activities, including bioprospecting activities. As a result, marine biodiversity is increasingly threatened. Thus, the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was established to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity but left ABNJ and bioprospecting activities widely unregulated. In Antarctica, for instance, bioprospecting has raised concerns, and the matter has been discussed since 2002. As a result, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 69/292 concluded the establishment of a new international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity for ABNJ. However, the inclusion of the Antarctic Treaty Area remains unclear. In light of the current BBNJ negotiations, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) only acknowledges the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) as the appropriate framework to regulate these activities in Antarctica. Further, it seems to aim for regulation under the ATS, if at all. Therefore, this paper discusses a solution-based approach for possible regulation of the collection and use of Antarctic marine biodiversity. The negotiations and achievements of the current BBNJ process will be taken into account, as they might provide support for the regulation of these issues in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

TINJAUAN HUKUM INTERNASIONAL TERKAIT PENETAPAN WILAYAH KONSERVASI OLEH INGGRIS TERHADAP KEPULAUAN CAGOS YANG MASIH DALAM PERSENGKETAAN DENGAN MAURITIUS

Every states have the rights or jurisdiction over their territory in the land and sea, and to protect their specific environment, they also have the right to purpose part of their territory as a Protected Area. Chagos archipelago is rich in the marine biodiversity which have to protect This island which place in the Indian Ocean used to be a British Colony, and in 1968 after Mauritius independence, British still exist in Chagos island based on their agreement with Mauritius to use this island for a few year, because British also have the agreement with US to use one of the island (Diego Garcia) as US Millitary Camp. In 2010 British purpose the Chagos archipelago as a protected area, which against by Mauritius, because the Cahgos Island is not British territory, its Mauritius’s territory. Based on UNCLOS 1982 only the coastal state have the rights of their marine biodiversity in their ZEE. The Convention on Biodiversity 1992, also mentioned about the rights of states to protect their biodiversity by using as protected area. IUCN as an international organization has the guidance about protected area that can be use to discuss the Chagos marine protected areas.

Sharing genetic resources fairly between nations

The global governance of natural resources was established initially by Convention on Biodiversity(CBD) in 1992 followed by Nagoya Protocol(NP) in 2010 with an objective of ensuring fairness and equitable benefit sharing arising from the exploitation of genetic resources creating incentive at the same time for the conservation and sustainable use of such resources. The framework has been criticized for its inefficiency in achieving its objectives. Recently it has been the subject of debate on whether digital sequence information is covered by the term ‘genetic resources’. There are divergent views in different countries on how digital sequencing information (DSI) should be defined and whether the information derived or non-tangible aspect of genetic resources should also fall under the ABS regime. The present paper analyses the Indian position on these points.

Conservation of Genetic Diversity of Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Among the main problems encountered with crop plants, the most important one is represented by genetic erosion. At world level this issue has been debated within the Convention on Biodiversity adopted in UN Conference of Rio de Janeiro and The International Convention regarding Genetic Resources of Plants for Alimentation and Agriculture. In Europe, the regulations in this field are made by the European Directive 98/95 EEC. Across time tomatoes have suffered a heightened process of genetic diversity, phenomenon caused by industrialized farming which is based on the use of very uniform varieties with high productivity. The extension of green agriculture, has led to the use of landraces, because they respond best to the traditional farming systems. In Western Europe organizations of peasants had been founded and, they are involved in different activities aiming at conservation of traditional forms of agriculture and the use of old varieties. In Romania the institutions with continuous preoccupations in the field of vegetal genetic conservation, especially landraces, are the Gene Bank from Suceava and UASMV Cluj-Napoca. By using conservation methods (in situ and ex situ), the genetic erosion surely phenomenon of vegetal genetic resources, implicitly tomatoes, is reduced, the future generations will benefit from valuable genetic resources.

PROGRESS IMPLEMENTATION OF TARGET 9 OF GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR PLANT CONSERVATION CONDUCTED BY INDONESIAN BOTANIC GARDEN NETWORK

Plant have been cultivated for a long time, they have been selected and bred by our ancestors for their nutritional qualities, flavor, productivity, storage ability and other valued traits. Crop Wild Relative (CWR) are often neglected because they have not been used for domestication. However, world population growth together with the potentially adverse impact of climate change on agricultural production, calls for greater action to ensure global food security. Indonesian Botanic Garden already ratified Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). One of the programs is the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). The GSPC vision is to stop the plant diversity loss through five objectives and 16 targets for plant conservation to be achieved by 2020. The study was to identify the implementation of target 9 of GSPC by Indonesian Botanic Garden Network. The result showed that there are four reason Indonesian Botanic Garden has participated in target 9 of GSPC, We also provided success stories from other botanic garden to encourage Indonesian Botanic Garden to conserve more Indonesian Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) whilst facilitating their use in crop improvement.

Insights in Biodiversity Management and Conservation in India: Structure and Role of Multi-tier Legal System

India, a mega varied nation with merely 2.5% of the earth’s total land region, shelters approx. seven to eight % of entire documented species, comprises of 45,000 floral species and 97,000 species of animals. Although, India can exhibit a notable variety of life diversity but there is barely any possibility for sense of security. The biodiversity experiences a variety of threats like overexploitation of natural resources, climate change, land use changes in natural habitats and spread of invasive species. Number of actions comprising facilitating strategy and official framework, have been put in place to mainstream environment, together with biodiversity. To attain the goals of Convention on Biodiversity, Indian government proclaimed the ‘Biological Diversity Act’ in 2002. The NBA founded under this act operates controlling, advisory and facilitative roles on matters of conservation, balanced usage of biological resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits of use. The NBA operates through SBBs at the state level and BMCs at the regional level to execute biodiversity policies via development of People's Biodiversity Registers. All these efforts will help in moving forward in the direction of attaining objectives for biodiversity protection and human development. This review summarized the structure of multi-tier system of National Biodiversity Authority with focus on Biodiversity Management Committee and their roles in conservation.

REVIEWING INTERNATIONAL PATENT POLICY ON BIOTECHNOLOGICAL INVENTIONS AND THE ADEQUACY OF EQUITABLE BENEFIT SHARING PRINCIPLE

The purpose of this study is to review international patent policy related to biotechnological inventions, particularly from the Venetian Patent Law to the TRIPs Agreement. It closely examines whether such inventions fulfill the patentability thresholds and analyses the reason why such patents are regarded as having the potential to cause facility misappropriation of biodiversity, which is considered unfair. The most important part of this study is the adequacy analysis of the principles of equitable benefit sharing of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), including disclosure requirements and prior informed consent (PIC), to prevent misappropriation of biological resources in this era of fourth industrial revolution. This study is based on normative legal research method and uses primary and secondary legal resources. The analysis conducted for this study employed several approaches, which are: statute, conceptual, and historical approaches. This study found that patent protection for biotechnological inventions has received justification since the Paris Convention. However, the current international patent policy has a potential to facilitate misappropriation of biodiversity and it is regarded as unfair. On the other hand, equitable benefit sharing principle is still inadequate in dealing with such misappropriation. It advises the requirement of mandatory disclosure of origin to be regulated under national law as a legal basis for implementing equitable benefit sharing principle.

The Activity of the Convention Structures of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to Promote Technology Transfer

Introduction: in the context of increasing the role of technology transfer in achieving the sustainable development goals, the importance of scientific and technological cooperation within the framework of the Convention cooperation is increasing. The aim of the study is to develop a comprehensive proposal on the systemic interaction of the Convention structures of the UN Convention on Biodiversity in promoting the transfer of biotechnologies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The objectives of the study are: 1) to carry out a consistent analysis of the development perspective of technology transfer at the level of meetings of the Conference of the Parties, in the activities of the Executive Secretary, the Subsidiary body on scientific, technical and technological advice and the Clearing-House Mechanism; 2) to reveal promising areas of the Convention cooperation on facilitating the biotechnology transfer. Methods: the general scientific methods (systemic, structural and functional) and specific scientific methods (comparative law, dogmatic legal). Results: the Convention structures of the Convention on Biodiversity, treating the technology transfer as a multi-component process, develop and implement measures to promote it on the basis of taking into account the technological needs, creating an enabling environment and appropriate information exchange. The CBD Convention process is open to other Convention and non-Convention technology transfer initiatives governed by the Convention in order to achieve synergies. Conclusions: the CBD Convention Bodies play a crucial role in enhancing the cooperation among all stakeholders, as well as identifying the gaps and eliminating the duplication of the international biotechnology transfer initiatives in line with the objectives of the Convention.