Overcoming epistemic injustices in the biomedical study of ayahuasca: Towards ethical and sustainable regulation

After decades of biomedical research on ayahuasca's molecular compounds and their physiological effects, recent clinical trials show evidence of therapeutic potential for depression. However, indigenous peoples have been using ayahuasca therapeutically for a very long time, and thus we question the epistemic authority attributed to scientific studies, proposing that epistemic injustices were committed with practical, cultural, social, and legal consequences. We question epistemic authority based on the double-blind design, the molecularization discourse, and contextual issues about safety. We propose a new approach to foster epistemically fair research, outlining how to enforce indigenous rights, considering the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Colombian cases. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect, and develop their biocultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and cultural expressions, including traditional medicine practices. New regulations about ayahuasca must respect the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples according to the International Labor Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention no. 169. The declaration of the ayahuasca complex as a national cultural heritage may prevent patenting from third parties, fostering the development of traditional medicine. When involving isolated compounds derived from traditional knowledge, benefit-sharing agreements are mandatory according to the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity. Considering the extremely high demand to treat millions of depressed patients, the medicalization of ayahuasca without adequate regulation respectful of indigenous rights can be detrimental to indigenous peoples and their management of local environments, potentially harming the sustainability of the plants and of the Amazon itself, which is approaching its dieback tipping point.

Climate Conditions and Biodiversity Decline

Many studies in recent years have investigated the effects of climate change on the future of biodiversity. In this chapter, the authors first examined the different possible effects of climate change that can operate at individual, population, species, community, ecosystem, notably showing that species can respond to climate challenges by shifting their climatic change. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges that affect all the natural ecosystems of the world. Due to the fragile environment, mountain ecosystems are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climatic change will affect vegetation, humans, animals, and ecosystem that will impact on biodiversity. Mountains have been recognized as important ecosystems by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Climate change will not only threaten the biodiversity, but also affect the socio-economic condition of the indigenous people of the state. Various activities like habitat loss, deforestation, and exploitation amplify the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

Threat status of three important medicinal Himalayan plant species and conservation implications

A lack of precise information about the threat status of species hampers their effective conservation. The Target 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity calls for evaluation of threat status at global, national and regional levels to identify plant species of urgent conservation concern. Here we have empirically assessed the threat status of three valuable medicinal plant species (Trillium govanianum, Rheum tibeticum, and Arnebia euchroma) through extensive field studies and herbarium consultations in Kashmir Himalaya and cold desert region of Trans-Himalayan Ladakh. In accordance with the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, each of the three target species turned out to be Near Threatened (NT). According to the NatureServe Conservation Status Assessment, each of these species faces the overall threat impact of «High» to «Very high». We found that the anthropogenic threats emanating from unplanned economic development, road construction and other infrastructure related projects contribute to a fast decline in natural populations of these three species. Keeping in view the value of these species, on the one hand, and growing threats to their survival in the wild, on the other one, we call for urgent conservation strategies in the vulnerable Himalayan habitats for regional socio-economic development.

Facing the Harsh Reality of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Legislation: An Industry Perspective

Access and benefit sharing (ABS) is a framework which refers to a relatively recent type of legal requirements for access to and use of “genetic resources”. They are based on diverse national and regional laws and regulations, which mostly result from the implementation of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its supplementary agreement, the Nagoya Protocol. Their ambition is to achieve fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources as an incentive to conserve and sustainably use them. This paper describes the experiences, practical constraints and complexities encountered by users of genetic resources when dealing with ABS legislation, with a focus on users from the private sector. We provide insights on how ABS laws have fundamentally changed the way of working with genetic resources, in the hope that it inspires re-thinking of the ABS framework, to better support the overall objectives of the CBD.

Compatible or incompatible? DSI, open access, and benefit-sharing

The scientific community has a strong tradition of sharing digital sequence information (DSI) in an unrestricted manner through public databases. While this tradition of “open access” sharing has many benefits, it has created tension in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Differences of opinion on open access to DSI underlie key points of divergence in ongoing negotiations. The CBD has provided a set of policy options for DSI, but they are not granular enough to assess whether they are compatible with open access principles. Here, we explain what open access to DSI means in practice, assess the CBD DSI policy options through a more granular, technical lens, and discuss which policy options best enable open access. We show that de-coupled benefit-sharing mechanisms for DSI are the most compatible with open access practices and multilateral mechanisms, in general, are the most suited for benefit-sharing if fully de-coupled mechanisms become politically unrealistic.

Legal Regulation of Invasive Alien Species with Regards to Climate Change in Ukraine

The present paper is devoted to the problems of legal regulation of protecting biological diversity from the harmful effects of invasive alien species (hereinafter, IAS) with regards to climate change. Taking into consideration the fact that one of the main principles of environmental protection is the preservation of spatial and species diversity, legal understanding of the interconnectedness between climate change and harmful biological influences, is of great scientific and practical significance. Notably, the protection of the environment from the adverse effects of IAS and climate change is interconnected with the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources, as stated by the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and its protocols and decisions. Thus, one should acknowledge that climate change and invasive alien species are not only two of the key threats to biodiversity, but are directly interrelated and can act synergistically, presenting additional pressure for conservation and sustainability. Meanwhile, current legal regulation of both, climate change and IAS is relatively new to Ukrainian legislation, mostly done by means of international legal instruments. The existing national legal acts are generally of a strategic nature and address these issues separately with few legal provisions mentioning their interconnection. The paper substantiates the need to acknowledge and legally define the interrelation between climate change and invasive alien species. Thus, the development of appropriate regulatory framework for prevention and control of IAS should be carried out with consideration of climate change issues. In turn, national environmental legislation, in particular national framework law ‘On Environmental Protection’ as well climate change policy and laws should be complemented by provisions incorporating IAS management as a tool for reducing pressure on ecological services and enhancing ecosystem resilience.

The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework as a ‘specialized international access and benefit-sharing instrument’ under the Nagoya Protocol

The World Health Organization (WHO) is starting to come to terms with the public health implications of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its supplementary Nagoya Protocol about genetic resource access and benefit-sharing (ABS). Since 2017 there have been calls to recognize the WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework as a specialized international ABS instrument under the Nagoya Protocol. This article will examine whether the PIP Framework meets the criteria of a specialized international ABS instrument as laid out in a 2018 study commissioned by the Subsidiary Body on Implementation to the CBD (CBD/SBI/2/INF/17). Our analysis concludes that while the PIP Framework meets the specialization criteria, it fails to meet the supportiveness criteria and does not provide legal certainty for pandemic influenza virus ABS. Furthermore, we demonstrate that recognition of the PIP Framework as a specialized instrument would not mean that the CBD and Nagoya Protocol no longer apply to influenza viruses with human pandemic potential as has been asserted, rendering the relationship between the three international agreements unclear. As the WHO grapples with how to regulate access to other (non-influenza) human pathogens and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits associated with their use, a full appreciation of what ABS means when applied to pathogens is essential.

The ecosystem approach under the Convention on Biological Diversity: a review of decisions of the Conference of the Parties

A comprehensive analysis of the process of formation and development of the ecosystem approach in international environmental law under the Convention on Biological Diversity has been undertaken. Based on a study of the provisions of the Convention and a review of decisions of the meetings of its governing body – the Conference of the Parties – the conclusion is made about the current state of development of the ecosystem approach. In particular, under the Convention on Biological Diversity, general framework of the ecosystem approach have been developed, including its description, principles and practical guidelines for its application, and its leading role in the conservation of biodiversity has been determined. Undoubtedly, the ecosystem approach generally and its principles particularly require thorough discussion at future meetings of the Conference of the Parties and implementation in appropriate decisions. At the same time, it is quite obvious that the effectiveness of this approach in the issue of biodiversity conservation will depend primarily on its implementation in the state environmental policy and legislation of all countries-participants of the Convention and its practical realization, which, according to the author, should become one of the priority and strategic directions in the field of legal regulation of environmental relations in Ukraine.

Mapping and monitoring genetic diversity of an alpine freshwater top predator by applying newly proposed indicators

Genetic diversity is the basis for population adaptation and long-term survival, yet rarely considered in biodiversity monitoring. One key issue is the need for useful and straightforward indicators of genetic diversity. To test newly proposed indicators, we monitored genetic diversity over 40 years (1970-2010) in metapopulations of brown trout inhabiting 27 small mountain lakes representing 10 water systems in central Sweden. Three of the indicators were previously proposed for broad, international use for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) context, while three others were recently elaborated for national use by a Swedish science-management effort and applied for the first time here. The Swedish indicators use molecular genetic data to monitor genetic diversity within and between populations and assess the effective population size (Ne). We used a panel of 96 SNPs and identified 29 discrete populations retained over time. Over 40 percent of the lakes harbored more than one population indicating that brown trout biodiversity hidden as cryptic, sympatric populations are more common than recognized. The Ne indicator showed values below the threshold (Ne≤500) in 20 populations with five showing Ne<100. Although statistically significant genetic diversity reductions occurred in several populations, they were mostly within proposed threshold limits. Metapopulation structure appears to buffer against diversity loss; when applying the indicators to metapopulations most indicators suggest an acceptable genetic status in all but one system. The CBD indicators agreed with the national ones but provided less detail. We propose that all indicators applied here are appropriate for monitoring genetic diversity within species.