Metadata Factsheet

3. Goals And Targets Addressed

3a. Goal

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.

3b. Target

Target 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.

5. Definitions, concepts and classifications

5a. Definition

Key concepts:

4. There are two types of benefit-sharing:

(a) Bilateral benefit sharing: Under the CBD and its Nagoya Protocol bilateral benefit-sharing system for genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge is foreseen, thus the recipient of benefits is likely to be a country or recognized providers of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge within a country and the user is likely to be a legal or private person.

(b) Multilateral benefit sharing: Under international access and benefit sharing 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 International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and for example, presumably the multilateral mechanism for digital sequence information which calls for a “global fund”, 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), among others.

5b. Method of computation

6. 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

5. 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 in national reporting.

Table 1.List of monetary benefits for which data should be collected

6. 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 total amount, in US dollars, of the monetary benefits received at the national level during the reporting period.

7. Parties, in providing this information, will consider different types of monetary benefit, such as those included in annex to the Nagoya Protocol, or the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising Out of Their Utilization.

8. 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.

5c. Data collection method

9. 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 (*).

5d. Accessibility of methodology

10. This methodology is available online and more information can be found in CBD/SBSTTA/26/INF/12.

5e. Data sources

11. To be able to report on indicators measured at the national level for bilateral benefit-sharing it is necessary that countries implement tools that facilitate collection, compilation and report of information in accordance with national legislation. For the multilateral instruments, the Secretariats may be the curators of the data that needs to be provided, and information will be provided to the Parties to these instruments for its inclusion and use in the national report.

12. Some recommendations are included in this section for gathering information related to monetary bilaterally shared, while bearing in mind that countries may have different circumstances, priorities and capacities in this regard

Establish a national fund as central tool for monetary benefits collection

13. 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 genetic resource 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

14. 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 mutually agreed terms and other ABS-related documents. Confidential information usually includes trade secrets like new methods, formulas or designs. In the case of commercial utilization of genetic resources or associated traditional knowledge, 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 mutually agreed terms 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 Nagoya Protocol, while fully respecting confidentiality of the agreement

Develop a national repository where all information in the reporting process on benefits is stored and information is managed

15. 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) with relevant national safeguards to compile at the national level the information related to the effective amount and date of those payments and include in the mutually agreed terms clauses related to the user’s obligation to report to just one centralized national authority on monetary benefits shared directly with multiple beneficiaries.

16. 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 genetic resources or associated traditional knowledge. Some countries have already introduced national virtual systems to apply for access to genetic resources 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.

17. The design of these repositories can include different information and disaggregation according to national priorities and legislation, while bearing mind the needs for reporting at international level.

5f. Availability and release calendar

18. 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 clearing houses and other national data portals on an annual basis.

5g. Time series

19. Not currently available.

5h. Data providers

20. Parties should report the data directly

5i. Data compilers

21. At the global level, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity will compile the data.

5j. Gaps in data coverage

22. As mentioned above national data compilation for bilateral benefit-sharing may be challenging due to the existing systems for recording data, confidentiality issues and national capacity and given that the collection of benefit-sharing data was not mandatory or foreseen under the Nagoya Protocol

5k. Treatment of missing values

23. Missing data should not be included.

6. Scale

6a. Scale of use

Scale of application (please check all relevant boxes):

Global: ☒ Regional: ☒ National☒

24. Scale of data disaggregation/aggregation:

(a) Global/ regional scale indicator can be disaggregated to national level: ☒

(b) National data is collated to form global indicator: ☒

25. 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.

6b. National/regional indicator production

26. This data would be compiled and reported at the national level.

6c. Sources of differences between global and national figures

N/A

6d. Regional and global estimates & data collection for global monitoring

27. 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.

7. Other MEAs, processes and organisations

7a. Other MEA and processes

28. 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 (such as Digital Sequence Information, BBNJ and others) for the Parties to such instruments.

7b. Biodiversity Indicator Partnership

No

10. Data Reporter

10.a Organisation

SCBD

10b. Contact Person

Jillian Campbell, SCBD, cambell7@un.org

Beatriz Gomez, SCBD, beatriz.gomez@un.org ITPGRFA Secretariat

Alvaro Toledo, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Secretariat, alvaro.toledo@fao.org