Access and benefit sharing

The project "Ecologically and Socio Economically sound Coastal Ecosystem Rehabilitation and Conservation in Tsunami Affected Countries of the Indian Ocean" aimed to facilitate coastal ecosystem rehabilitation and conservation activities in critically degraded and threatened ecosystems in tsunami-affected countries of the Indian Ocean. Two countries were selected to implement the project: Sri Lanka and Thailand. Part of the project involved developing a Sustainable Financing Strategy for the project areas.

Contracts relating to scientific/technical development are effective only where they are enforceable or valid under relevant law, can be practically implemented by the Parties, and address matters arising from the relevant scientific/technical issues and practices. Negotiators are often hampered by their lack of knowledge of contractual law (and special legal concerns in the country in which users are located), and of the bio-technological techniques used to derive new molecules and genes or genetic or biochemical formulae from biological samples.

This final book of the ABS project provides focused research papers on issues that have not been agreed internationally, and which were beyond the scope of the first four ABS books: 1) ABS issues in sectoral ministries and instruments; 2) legal issues and experiences relevant to designing an ABS framework that is functional within countries and across boundaries; 3) relationships between ABS and international frameworks addressing social welfare issues; 4) concerns regarding inter-framework issues and relationships; and 5) the need to include ABS components relating to technology transfer

The book aims to address the lack of information on the experiences of others by providing a comparative analysis of national access and benefit-sharing laws and policies in the 41 Pacific Rim countries that signed the CBD. It provides key insights on the main characteristics of selected access and benefit-sharing (ABS) policies and laws, their development, and implementation process. It contains a detailed comparative analysis of existing laws and policies.