Monetary benefits received in accordance with applicable internationally agreed ABS instruments
2023-03-28 12:00:00 UTC
Headline Indicator for Goal C. The monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilization of genetic resources and digital sequence information on genetic resources, and of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, as applicable, are shared fairly and equitably, including, as appropriate with indigenous peoples and local communities, and substantially increased by 2050, while ensuring traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is appropriately protected, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit-sharing instruments.
Headline indicator forTarget 13: Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and facilitating appropriate access to genetic resources, and by 2030, facilitating a significant increase of the benefits shared, in accordance with applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments.
This indicator would aim to measure the trend in the amount of monetary benefits received by countries from the implementation of applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments during the reporting period. This indicator could compile, inter alia, monetary benefits received by countries bilaterally from the implementation of ABS under the Convention and its Nagoya Protocol as well as multilateral ABS instruments, namely the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the new multilateral instruments for digital sequence information (DSI) under the Convention and for marine genetic resources and DSI under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).This does not prejudge that other ABS-related instruments, for example, those under the World Health Organization, could be also incorporated in the future to support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity goals of the KMGBF.
National reporting on monetary benefits received bilaterally would not be relevant for all CBD Parties, as some countries do not regulate access to genetic resources and/or do not require or receive benefits from ABS agreements. Possible ways to disaggregate the indicator, without adding undue complexity for reporting, would need to be defined (e.g. monetary benefits from genetic resources, associated traditional knowledge, amount per type of beneficiaries, e.g. women or IPLCs). For the multilateral instruments, disaggregation by categories of distribution and beneficiary types could be considered.
Key concepts:
There are two types of benefit-sharing:
Bilateral benefit sharing: Under the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol and its current bilateral benefit-sharing system for GRs and ATK, the recipient is likely to be a country or recognized providers within a country.
Multilateral benefit sharing: Under international ABS instruments that rely on multilateral approaches to benefit-sharing, a single fund would receive all the monetary benefits, such as the one established under the ITPGRFA, and presumably the multilateral mechanism for DSI which calls for a “global fund”, and the fund foreseen by the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
Monetary benefits can all be measured in terms of the amount of money received and they can be aggregated and reported as a single monetary number for each year. Table 1 provides a list of types of monetary benefits which should be included.
Table 1. List of monetary benefits to be collected
Monetary Benefit | Notes on collecting data |
*(a)Access fees/fee per sample collected or otherwise acquired | Easy to implement, payment during access application |
(b) Up-front payments | Easy to implement, payment during access application |
(c) Milestone payments | Happens during utilization, CNA or other authority need check in/receive several reports over time, milestones need to be clearly defined and agreed on |
*(d) Payment of royalties | After successful utilization/commercialization, regular annual reports on revenue needed |
(e) License fees in case of commercialization | After successful utilization/commercialization |
(f) Special fees to be paid to trust funds supporting conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(g) Salaries and preferential terms where mutually agreed | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
*(h) Research funding | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(i) Joint ventures | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(j) Joint ownership of relevant intellectual property rights | Royalties are generated after the licensing of intellectual property (if successful) |
The headline indicator for monetary benefit-sharing would enable countries to report on monetary benefits across all international instruments into a single overarching indicator. This information would be collected at national level for the benefits shared bilaterally, and by the relevant treaty secretariats for those benefits shared multilaterally.The information collected by the treaty secretariats, if so decided by their membership, will be made available to SCBD and may be used by countries for their use in a section of the national reports. Parties to the CBD that have regulated access to their genetic resources and require monetary benefit-sharing will include in their national reports the amount, in US dollars, of the monetary benefits received at the national level during the reporting period.
Parties, in providing this information, will consider different types of monetary benefit, such as those included in annex to the Nagoya Protocol.
However, the collection of information on monetary benefits at national level is not without challenges.Few countries have readily available information on monetary benefits, as many countries do not yet have a fully operational ABS framework or have only concluded agreements for non-commercial use which do not involve monetary benefits.
This information will be collected through the national reporting under the Convention where Parties report which monetary (and/or in the case of indicator C.2 which non-monetary benefits they have received), including the amount of monetary benefits received during the reporting period (in US dollars). It will be based on the categories in table 1 noting that the monetary benefits that are considered to be the most important for reporting purposes are highlighted with a (*).
This methodology is available online and more information can be found in CBD/SBSTTA/26/INF/12.
To be able to report on indicators measured at the national level, it is necessary that countries implement tools that facilitate collection, compilation and report of information. Some recommendations are included in this section for gathering information related to monetary and non-monetary benefits shared.
Establish a national fund as central tool for monetary benefits collection
At the national level, the approach of establishing a mechanism (a specific fund or an account) that centralizes the reception of monetary benefits could help with data reporting. A centralized system eases the accountability of the transactions and the calculation of the monetary benefits received and seems to be a good managing tool to receive payments based on ABS agreements of notifications. Such a fund creates the potential to have a quick overview on the monetary flows and creates the opportunity to assess allocations used for conservation and protection of biodiversity. In general, money from the fund can be distributed to the provider of a GR or may be used for conservation projects (18). This type of fund allows easy identification of the payments made by users and avoids the risks associated with payments made to the general budget of a country, where it will be more difficult to track the initial payment and almost impossible to ensure that the funds are used for biodiversity policy objectives. However, ministries of finance often pursue the principle of universality of the government budget whereby all resources are directed to a common pool or fund, to be allocated and used for expenditures according to the current priorities of the government, where earmarking is forbidden or highly discouraged. Thus, inevitably, like with much of ABS, each country will have unique circumstances.
Anticipate confidentiality issues during non-disclosure agreements negotiations
For some countries confidentiality issues are an important obstacle to report on monetary benefits as information on monetary benefits may be difficult to report due to non-disclosure agreements (NDA) that restrict parties to disclose confidential information included in the MAT and other ABS-related documents. Confidential information usually includes trade secrets like new methods, formulas or designs. In the case of commercial utilization of GR or aTK, information on monetary benefits is also sensitive and usually declared as confidential. On the other hand, based on some interviews with ABS experts from the private sector, confidentiality issues would be prevented if those are discussed and agreed at an early stage of MAT negotiations and if aggregated data is reported. To this end, standardized language can be included in non-disclosure agreements that explicitly allows the recipient of the confidential information to report on benefits received, at the aggregate level, in their national reports under the CBD and the NP.
Develop a national repository where all information in the reporting process on benefits is stored and information is managed
In case various beneficiaries directly receive monetary benefits from the user, in an independent and decentralized manner, collecting aggregate data will be challenging. The alternative in case of multiple recipients of monetary benefits is to implement a mechanism (e.g. an online tool) to compile at the national level the information related to the effective amount and date of those payments and include in the MAT clauses related to the user’s obligation to report to just one centralized national authority on monetary benefits shared directly with multiple beneficiaries.
Data management systems for ABS agreements granting and benefits reporting are a good tool to monitor benefit-sharing at national level and could potentially generate reminders about check in and reporting duties of users of GRs or aTK. Some countries have already introduced national virtual systems to apply for access to GRs and report on benefit-sharing. Once the application is successfully processed the corresponding permit is granted and uploaded to the platform. The commitments on both monetary and non-monetary benefit sharing and corresponding deadlines can also be programmed in the system, which could send out reminders to users on reporting obligations for the concluded benefit-sharing activities. The users could upload benefit-sharing reports (e.g. research results or capacity building reports) and appropriate information to support the report.
This data will be collected through national reports as per the timing of those reports. Parties could share data through their national CHMs or through their ABS CHs and other national data portals on an annual basis.
Not currently available.
Parties should report the data directly.
At the global level, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity will compile the data.
As mentioned above national data compilation may be challenging due to the existing systems for recording data, confidentiality issues and national capacity.
Missing data should not be inputed.
Scale of application:Global, Regional, National
Scale of data disaggregation/aggregation
Global/ regional scale indicator can be disaggregated to national level: Yes
National data is collated to form global indicator: Yes
The indicator is available for use at the national, regional and global level. It should be noted that national data would be aggregated in USD.
This data would be compiled and reported at the national level.
N/A
Regional and global data would be the aggregate of national data in United States dollars. Missing data would not be estimated in developing the regional or global figures.
This data may also be reported in the national reports under the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing and data sources to be identified for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other multilateral mechanisms on ABS (DSI, BBNJ).
No
Countries should be able to disaggregate the information by monetary benefits received by different beneficiaries recognized in their national legislation and report on benefits received by IPLCs.
This indicator has linkages across the framework, including with Target 15, 19 and 22.
SCBD
Jillian Campbell, SCBD, cambell7@un.org
Beatriz Gomez, SCBD, beatriz.gomez@un.org ITPGRFA Secretariat
Alvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat, alvaro.toledo@fao.org
United Nations Environment Programme. Convention on biological diversity [Internet]. 1992. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/8340
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Access and benefit-sharing as related to genetic resources. In: UN Doc [Internet]. COP 6 Decision VI/24; 2002. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=7198
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Text and Annex [Internet]. 2011. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/27555
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture [Internet]. 2001. Available from: https://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/overview/texts-tr...
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Standard Material Transfer Agreement. In: FAO Doc [Internet]. RESOLUTION 2/2006; 2006. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/be006e/be006e.pdf
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/4; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Digital sequence information on genetic resources. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/9; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/5; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and, Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. 25/1. Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. 1/14 CBD/SBSTTA/REC/25/1; 2023. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/recommendations/sbstta-25/...
United Nations. Sustainable development: Convention on Biological Diversity - Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2023. In: UN Doc [Internet]. A/RES/78/155; 2023. Available from: https://www.undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2...
World Health Organization. Bureau’s text of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (WHO CA+) [Internet]. A/INB/5/6; 2023. Available from: https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb5/A_INB5_...
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. NOTIFICATION - Survey on indicators on access and benefit-sharing for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. SCBD/NPU/DC/TS/BG/RKi/91289; 2023. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2023/ntf-202...
Greiber T. An Explanatory Guide to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing. IUCN; 2012. 395 p.
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. NP-1/3. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. UNEP/CBD/NP/COP-MOP/DEC/1/3; 2014. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-01/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. NP-3/4. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/NP/MOP/DEC/3/4; 2018. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-03/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE PARTIES TO THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT-SHARING, NP-4/3. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/NP/MOP/DEC/4/3; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-04/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, IX/14. Technology transfer and cooperation. In: UN Doc [Internet]. UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/IX/14; 2008. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-09/cop-09-de...
Ebert AW, Engels JMM, Schafleitner R, Hintum T van, Mwila G. Critical Review of the Increasing Complexity of Access and Benefit-Sharing Policies of Genetic Resources for Genebank Curators and Plant Breeders–A Public and Private Sector Perspective. Plants. 2023 Aug;12(16):2992.
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, 15/6. Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/6; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Scholz AH, Lange M, Habekost P, Oldham P, Cancio I, Cochrane G, et al. Myth-busting the provider-user relationship for digital sequence information. GigaScience. 2021 Dec;10(12).
Sebo P, de Lucia S, Vernaz N. Accuracy of PubMed-based author lists of publications and use of author identifiers to address author name ambiguity: a cross-sectional study. Scientometrics. 2021 Mar;126(5):4121–35.
Rosonovski S, Levchenko M, Bhatnagar R, Chandrasekaran U, Faulk L, Hassan I, et al. Europe PMC in 2023. Nucleic Acids Research. 2023 Nov;52(D1):D1668–76.
Marden E, Abbott RJ, Austerlitz F, Ortiz‐Barrientos D, Baucom RS, Bongaerts P, et al. Sharing and reporting benefits from biodiversity research. Molecular Ecology. 2020 Nov;30(5):1103–7.
Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. Introduction to the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture [Internet]. 2011. Available from: http://www.itpgrfa.net/International/sites/default...
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Eighth meeting of the Standing Committee on the Funding Strategy and Resource Mobilization (SFC-8) - Meeting proceedings [Internet]. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/cc8199en/cc8199en.pdf
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Implementation of the funding strategy [Internet]. Food and Agriculture Organization. Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/no028en/no028en.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ITPGRFA TENTH SESSION OF THE GOVERNING BODY - The Benefit-sharing Fund: 2022-2023 Report. In: FAO Doc [Internet]. IT/GB-10/23/10/Inf.1; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/cc8470en/cc8470en.pdf
Galluzzi G, López Noriega I, Halewood M. Non-monetary benefit sharing mechanisms within the projects funded by the Benefit Sharing Fund. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture [Internet]. 2014; Available from: https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/84d6161...
Scholz AH, Freitag J, Lyal CHC, Sara R, Cepeda ML, Cancio I, et al. Multilateral benefit-sharing from digital sequence information will support both science and biodiversity conservation. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 23;13(1):1086.
United Nations. Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction [Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/8340
Monetary benefits received in accordance with applicable internationally agreed ABS instruments
2023-03-28 12:00:00 UTC
Headline Indicator for Goal C. The monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilization of genetic resources and digital sequence information on genetic resources, and of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, as applicable, are shared fairly and equitably, including, as appropriate with indigenous peoples and local communities, and substantially increased by 2050, while ensuring traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is appropriately protected, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit-sharing instruments.
Headline indicator forTarget 13: Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and facilitating appropriate access to genetic resources, and by 2030, facilitating a significant increase of the benefits shared, in accordance with applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments.
This indicator would aim to measure the trend in the amount of monetary benefits received by countries from the implementation of applicable international access and benefit-sharing instruments during the reporting period. This indicator could compile, inter alia, monetary benefits received by countries bilaterally from the implementation of ABS under the Convention and its Nagoya Protocol as well as multilateral ABS instruments, namely the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the new multilateral instruments for digital sequence information (DSI) under the Convention and for marine genetic resources and DSI under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).This does not prejudge that other ABS-related instruments, for example, those under the World Health Organization, could be also incorporated in the future to support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity goals of the KMGBF.
National reporting on monetary benefits received bilaterally would not be relevant for all CBD Parties, as some countries do not regulate access to genetic resources and/or do not require or receive benefits from ABS agreements. Possible ways to disaggregate the indicator, without adding undue complexity for reporting, would need to be defined (e.g. monetary benefits from genetic resources, associated traditional knowledge, amount per type of beneficiaries, e.g. women or IPLCs). For the multilateral instruments, disaggregation by categories of distribution and beneficiary types could be considered.
Key concepts:
There are two types of benefit-sharing:
Bilateral benefit sharing: Under the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol and its current bilateral benefit-sharing system for GRs and ATK, the recipient is likely to be a country or recognized providers within a country.
Multilateral benefit sharing: Under international ABS instruments that rely on multilateral approaches to benefit-sharing, a single fund would receive all the monetary benefits, such as the one established under the ITPGRFA, and presumably the multilateral mechanism for DSI which calls for a “global fund”, and the fund foreseen by the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
Monetary benefits can all be measured in terms of the amount of money received and they can be aggregated and reported as a single monetary number for each year. Table 1 provides a list of types of monetary benefits which should be included.
Table 1. List of monetary benefits to be collected
Monetary Benefit | Notes on collecting data |
*(a)Access fees/fee per sample collected or otherwise acquired | Easy to implement, payment during access application |
(b) Up-front payments | Easy to implement, payment during access application |
(c) Milestone payments | Happens during utilization, CNA or other authority need check in/receive several reports over time, milestones need to be clearly defined and agreed on |
*(d) Payment of royalties | After successful utilization/commercialization, regular annual reports on revenue needed |
(e) License fees in case of commercialization | After successful utilization/commercialization |
(f) Special fees to be paid to trust funds supporting conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(g) Salaries and preferential terms where mutually agreed | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
*(h) Research funding | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(i) Joint ventures | Can happened in several time points along the value chain |
(j) Joint ownership of relevant intellectual property rights | Royalties are generated after the licensing of intellectual property (if successful) |
The headline indicator for monetary benefit-sharing would enable countries to report on monetary benefits across all international instruments into a single overarching indicator. This information would be collected at national level for the benefits shared bilaterally, and by the relevant treaty secretariats for those benefits shared multilaterally.The information collected by the treaty secretariats, if so decided by their membership, will be made available to SCBD and may be used by countries for their use in a section of the national reports. Parties to the CBD that have regulated access to their genetic resources and require monetary benefit-sharing will include in their national reports the amount, in US dollars, of the monetary benefits received at the national level during the reporting period.
Parties, in providing this information, will consider different types of monetary benefit, such as those included in annex to the Nagoya Protocol.
However, the collection of information on monetary benefits at national level is not without challenges.Few countries have readily available information on monetary benefits, as many countries do not yet have a fully operational ABS framework or have only concluded agreements for non-commercial use which do not involve monetary benefits.
This information will be collected through the national reporting under the Convention where Parties report which monetary (and/or in the case of indicator C.2 which non-monetary benefits they have received), including the amount of monetary benefits received during the reporting period (in US dollars). It will be based on the categories in table 1 noting that the monetary benefits that are considered to be the most important for reporting purposes are highlighted with a (*).
This methodology is available online and more information can be found in CBD/SBSTTA/26/INF/12.
To be able to report on indicators measured at the national level, it is necessary that countries implement tools that facilitate collection, compilation and report of information. Some recommendations are included in this section for gathering information related to monetary and non-monetary benefits shared.
Establish a national fund as central tool for monetary benefits collection
At the national level, the approach of establishing a mechanism (a specific fund or an account) that centralizes the reception of monetary benefits could help with data reporting. A centralized system eases the accountability of the transactions and the calculation of the monetary benefits received and seems to be a good managing tool to receive payments based on ABS agreements of notifications. Such a fund creates the potential to have a quick overview on the monetary flows and creates the opportunity to assess allocations used for conservation and protection of biodiversity. In general, money from the fund can be distributed to the provider of a GR or may be used for conservation projects (18). This type of fund allows easy identification of the payments made by users and avoids the risks associated with payments made to the general budget of a country, where it will be more difficult to track the initial payment and almost impossible to ensure that the funds are used for biodiversity policy objectives. However, ministries of finance often pursue the principle of universality of the government budget whereby all resources are directed to a common pool or fund, to be allocated and used for expenditures according to the current priorities of the government, where earmarking is forbidden or highly discouraged. Thus, inevitably, like with much of ABS, each country will have unique circumstances.
Anticipate confidentiality issues during non-disclosure agreements negotiations
For some countries confidentiality issues are an important obstacle to report on monetary benefits as information on monetary benefits may be difficult to report due to non-disclosure agreements (NDA) that restrict parties to disclose confidential information included in the MAT and other ABS-related documents. Confidential information usually includes trade secrets like new methods, formulas or designs. In the case of commercial utilization of GR or aTK, information on monetary benefits is also sensitive and usually declared as confidential. On the other hand, based on some interviews with ABS experts from the private sector, confidentiality issues would be prevented if those are discussed and agreed at an early stage of MAT negotiations and if aggregated data is reported. To this end, standardized language can be included in non-disclosure agreements that explicitly allows the recipient of the confidential information to report on benefits received, at the aggregate level, in their national reports under the CBD and the NP.
Develop a national repository where all information in the reporting process on benefits is stored and information is managed
In case various beneficiaries directly receive monetary benefits from the user, in an independent and decentralized manner, collecting aggregate data will be challenging. The alternative in case of multiple recipients of monetary benefits is to implement a mechanism (e.g. an online tool) to compile at the national level the information related to the effective amount and date of those payments and include in the MAT clauses related to the user’s obligation to report to just one centralized national authority on monetary benefits shared directly with multiple beneficiaries.
Data management systems for ABS agreements granting and benefits reporting are a good tool to monitor benefit-sharing at national level and could potentially generate reminders about check in and reporting duties of users of GRs or aTK. Some countries have already introduced national virtual systems to apply for access to GRs and report on benefit-sharing. Once the application is successfully processed the corresponding permit is granted and uploaded to the platform. The commitments on both monetary and non-monetary benefit sharing and corresponding deadlines can also be programmed in the system, which could send out reminders to users on reporting obligations for the concluded benefit-sharing activities. The users could upload benefit-sharing reports (e.g. research results or capacity building reports) and appropriate information to support the report.
This data will be collected through national reports as per the timing of those reports. Parties could share data through their national CHMs or through their ABS CHs and other national data portals on an annual basis.
Not currently available.
Parties should report the data directly.
At the global level, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity will compile the data.
As mentioned above national data compilation may be challenging due to the existing systems for recording data, confidentiality issues and national capacity.
Missing data should not be inputed.
Scale of application:Global, Regional, National
Scale of data disaggregation/aggregation
Global/ regional scale indicator can be disaggregated to national level: Yes
National data is collated to form global indicator: Yes
The indicator is available for use at the national, regional and global level. It should be noted that national data would be aggregated in USD.
This data would be compiled and reported at the national level.
N/A
Regional and global data would be the aggregate of national data in United States dollars. Missing data would not be estimated in developing the regional or global figures.
This data may also be reported in the national reports under the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing and data sources to be identified for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other multilateral mechanisms on ABS (DSI, BBNJ).
No
Countries should be able to disaggregate the information by monetary benefits received by different beneficiaries recognized in their national legislation and report on benefits received by IPLCs.
This indicator has linkages across the framework, including with Target 15, 19 and 22.
SCBD
Jillian Campbell, SCBD, cambell7@un.org
Beatriz Gomez, SCBD, beatriz.gomez@un.org ITPGRFA Secretariat
Alvaro Toledo, ITPGRFA Secretariat, alvaro.toledo@fao.org
United Nations Environment Programme. Convention on biological diversity [Internet]. 1992. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/8340
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Access and benefit-sharing as related to genetic resources. In: UN Doc [Internet]. COP 6 Decision VI/24; 2002. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=7198
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Text and Annex [Internet]. 2011. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/27555
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture [Internet]. 2001. Available from: https://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/overview/texts-tr...
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Standard Material Transfer Agreement. In: FAO Doc [Internet]. RESOLUTION 2/2006; 2006. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/be006e/be006e.pdf
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/4; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Digital sequence information on genetic resources. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/9; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/5; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and, Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. 25/1. Monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. 1/14 CBD/SBSTTA/REC/25/1; 2023. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/recommendations/sbstta-25/...
United Nations. Sustainable development: Convention on Biological Diversity - Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2023. In: UN Doc [Internet]. A/RES/78/155; 2023. Available from: https://www.undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2...
World Health Organization. Bureau’s text of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (WHO CA+) [Internet]. A/INB/5/6; 2023. Available from: https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb5/A_INB5_...
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. NOTIFICATION - Survey on indicators on access and benefit-sharing for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In: UN Doc [Internet]. SCBD/NPU/DC/TS/BG/RKi/91289; 2023. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/notifications/2023/ntf-202...
Greiber T. An Explanatory Guide to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing. IUCN; 2012. 395 p.
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. NP-1/3. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. UNEP/CBD/NP/COP-MOP/DEC/1/3; 2014. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-01/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. NP-3/4. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/NP/MOP/DEC/3/4; 2018. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-03/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE PARTIES TO THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT-SHARING, NP-4/3. Monitoring and reporting (Article 29). In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/NP/MOP/DEC/4/3; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/np-mop-04/np-mop...
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, IX/14. Technology transfer and cooperation. In: UN Doc [Internet]. UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/IX/14; 2008. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-09/cop-09-de...
Ebert AW, Engels JMM, Schafleitner R, Hintum T van, Mwila G. Critical Review of the Increasing Complexity of Access and Benefit-Sharing Policies of Genetic Resources for Genebank Curators and Plant Breeders–A Public and Private Sector Perspective. Plants. 2023 Aug;12(16):2992.
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. DECISION ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, 15/6. Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review. In: UN Doc [Internet]. CBD/COP/DEC/15/6; 2022. Available from: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-de...
Scholz AH, Lange M, Habekost P, Oldham P, Cancio I, Cochrane G, et al. Myth-busting the provider-user relationship for digital sequence information. GigaScience. 2021 Dec;10(12).
Sebo P, de Lucia S, Vernaz N. Accuracy of PubMed-based author lists of publications and use of author identifiers to address author name ambiguity: a cross-sectional study. Scientometrics. 2021 Mar;126(5):4121–35.
Rosonovski S, Levchenko M, Bhatnagar R, Chandrasekaran U, Faulk L, Hassan I, et al. Europe PMC in 2023. Nucleic Acids Research. 2023 Nov;52(D1):D1668–76.
Marden E, Abbott RJ, Austerlitz F, Ortiz‐Barrientos D, Baucom RS, Bongaerts P, et al. Sharing and reporting benefits from biodiversity research. Molecular Ecology. 2020 Nov;30(5):1103–7.
Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. Introduction to the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture [Internet]. 2011. Available from: http://www.itpgrfa.net/International/sites/default...
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Eighth meeting of the Standing Committee on the Funding Strategy and Resource Mobilization (SFC-8) - Meeting proceedings [Internet]. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/cc8199en/cc8199en.pdf
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Implementation of the funding strategy [Internet]. Food and Agriculture Organization. Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/no028en/no028en.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ITPGRFA TENTH SESSION OF THE GOVERNING BODY - The Benefit-sharing Fund: 2022-2023 Report. In: FAO Doc [Internet]. IT/GB-10/23/10/Inf.1; 2023. Available from: https://www.fao.org/3/cc8470en/cc8470en.pdf
Galluzzi G, López Noriega I, Halewood M. Non-monetary benefit sharing mechanisms within the projects funded by the Benefit Sharing Fund. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture [Internet]. 2014; Available from: https://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/84d6161...
Scholz AH, Freitag J, Lyal CHC, Sara R, Cepeda ML, Cancio I, et al. Multilateral benefit-sharing from digital sequence information will support both science and biodiversity conservation. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 23;13(1):1086.
United Nations. Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction [Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/8340
Feedback: UNEP-WCMC is keen to ensure that our data is accurate and up to date. We welcome any feedback on the quality, reliability, and accuracy of the information on this site. If you see any errors or missing information, please get in touch.