How does it affect botanic gardens?

1. A new international regime:
how does it affect botanic
gardens?
Kate Davis
CBD Unit, Conventions and Policy Section,
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Eurogard IV
18-22 Sept 2006, Prague

2. Outline
• Why an international regime on access
to genetic resources and benefit-
sharing?
• What might change?
• Why is this relevant to botanic gardens?
• What can botanic gardens do and how
can we be involved?

3. Access and benefit-sharing:
‘the grand bargain’
• The fair and equitable
sharing of the benefits
arising out of the utilization
of genetic resources

4. Article 15
• Follow national laws
• Facilitate access
• Excludes pre-CBD
• Prior informed consent
• Mutually agreed terms
• Research with/in countries of
origin
• Benefit-sharing

5. National legislation on access
and benefit-sharing
Legislation in place Planning legislation

6. ABS timeline
• 1992 – CBD opened for signature
• 1993 – CBD comes into force
• 2001 – ABS working group drafts Bonn Guidelines
ABS Guidelines drafted
in Bonn, 2001
• 2002 – COP6 adopts Bonn Guidelines
• 2002 – World Summit on Sustainable Development – call
for new international regime
• 2004 – COP7 sets terms of reference for international
regime negotiations
• 2006 – COP8 sets deadline for end of negotiations by 2010
• 2007 – Technical expert group to discuss certificates of
origin

7. Why an international regime?
• Bonn Guidelines voluntary
• Perceived over-emphasis on
provider country actions
• Need for compliance and
enforcement in ‘user’ countries
• Fears of biopiracy
• Re-open debate

8. What kind of international regime?
• A new treaty? Or linkage between
existing instruments?
– Bonn Guidelines, International Treaty
on PGRFA, CITES, WIPO, TRIPs
• Same everywhere, or different?
• What are the current gaps in ABS?

9. Controversies
• Legally-binding?
• Facilitate access?
• Derivatives?
• Traditional knowledge?
• Who’s involved?
www.bourzeix.com/weblog/images/galleries/blender/sharks.jpg

10. What’s new?
• Focus on compliance by ‘users’
– Disclosure of origin/source in
applications for intellectual property
rights
– Certificates of origin/source/legal
provenance for genetic resources
(GRs)
• We are ‘users’!
©cambridge2000.com

11. Certificates of origin/source/legal
provenance
• Mechanism to prove legal origin
of/right to use GRs
• Who can issue a certificate?
• What should be certificated?
– All genetic resources, pre/post CBD?
– GRs collected for commercial purposes
only?
– Groups of specimens? Individual
specimens? Samples/derivatives?
– GRs collected under 1 agreement?

12. Certificates
• Tracking backwards and/or forwards?
• Duplicates, samples, progeny?
• Paper, barcodes or alphanumeric code?
• Checkpoints?
• Facilitation/exemption for non-
commercial collections?
• Who benefits and who pays the costs?
• …What’s the alternative?

13. ‘Life of a specimen’ case studies
• Smithsonian Institution
– 500,000 transactions/year
• Natural History Museum
– £22m to digitise all botanical
specimens
– £142m to digitise & barcode
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
– low risk (herbarium
specimens) vs high risk (seeds)
Collections Management Unit
Kew Herbarium

14. Exchange at Kew (2004)
2000
3100 (some from Kew)
DNA bank
2000
Living collections
600
3800
Seed Bank
24000 + 11000 loans
37000 + 13000 loans
6300 from Kew fieldwork
Herbarium
Supply/Loan
Acquisitions
Collection
1200

15. Implications?
• New access procedures
• More formal agreements (access and transfer)
• Clearer distinction between commercial and non-
commercial use?
• Interest in use of ex situ collections for bioprospecting?
• More tracking and reporting for everyone
• Greater need to understand, network and lobby

16. Now what?
© Kate Davis

17. Institutional use and exchange
Get material/
information
legally
…with PIC &
mutually
agreed terms
Use
according to
terms of
acquisition
Supply
according to
terms of
acquisition
Institution

18. Guidelines, codes & tools
• Principles on Access to Genetic Resources
and Benefit Sharing
– Framework to cover acquisition (in situ and
ex situ), use, supply, written agreements,
curation, commercialisation, benefit-sharing
• International Plant Exchange Network (IPEN)
– Code of conduct; facilitated exchange of living
plants for non-commercial use
• Swiss good practice guide
– Guidance for academic research; case studies
• ABS Management Tool
– Guidance/system for users & providers
‘Principles’ group
Pilot project for Botanic Gardens
Cartagena, 2000

19. Kew tools
• ABS policy based on Principles
• Intranet staff guide to CBD
• Staff training (CBD/CITES/plant health)
Training course
Donation letter
• Overseas Fieldwork Committee
• Agreements with partner institutions
• Standard documents
– Donation form
– Standard Material Supply Agreement
– Use letter
• Benefit-sharing trust fund for plant auction

20. Stay in the loop
• Meet your CBD National Focal
Point
• Keep in touch with (or join!) your
country’s CBD delegation
• How would certificates/disclosure
affect your institution?
• And how would this affect your
country’s ability to contribute to
CBD goals?

21. Show you’re worth it
• Build trust
– Adopt institutional ABS policy
– Be clear about research links to
universities/industry, bioprospecting
and intent to commercialise
– Work on ‘housekeeping’
• Demonstrate (and keep track of)
effective benefit-sharing
• Contribute to national CBD
reports

22. Prepare for debate: questions for collections
• What kinds of collections does your garden hold?
• Do you do fieldwork abroad?
• Do you currently have a policy? A Material Supply Agreement?
• Do you database your specimens? (All/some?)
• Specimen flow: how many transfers in and out? (Loans/donations/samples)
• Do you track transfers? How?
• How do you keep track of special terms on specimens?
• Do you have links to universities? How do you accept/supply material?
• Do you have links to industry? (Pharmaceutical/botanicals/agricultural/horticultural)
• Do you have plant sales? What kinds of plants do you sell?
• What types of benefits do you share? How?

23. Further information
• CBD website www.biodiv.org
• Principles, IPEN, ABS case studies
www.bgci.org/abs
• Swiss good practice guide
http://abs.scnat.ch
• CBD for Botanists
www.kew.org/data/cbdbotanists.html
• ABS Management Tool
www.iisd.org/abs
• Science and Development Network
www.scidev.net
Kew CBD Unit
cbdunit@kew.org
www.kew.org/conservation