Edging closer to operationalizing an agreement on the fair

In a major development under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), negotiators agreed this week to recommend that COP 16 of the CBD (21 October – 1 November 2024) in Cali, Colombia, adopt a decision setting out the modalities for operationalizing the multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, including a global fund (the Multilateral Mechanism).

Operationalization is expected to mobilize new streams of additional funding for biodiversity action worldwide, in support of the Convention’s three overarching objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

The Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Benefit-sharing from the Use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources met in Montreal, Canada, from 12 - 16 August 2024. Negotiators from Parties to the Convention and non-Party governments, representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities and civil society, industry, research and academia as well as other observers had before them a number of issues that needed further consideration during the five-day meeting. The issues had been set out in the Annex to decision 15/9 by COP 15 of the Convention, which established the Multilateral Mechanism. 

The negotiations held in Montreal this week narrowed down a wide spectrum of technical and policy options pertaining to crucial operational modalities of the Multilateral Mechanism, including the associated global fund: who will pay for using digital sequence information on genetic resources, how much they will pay, what would trigger such payments, how the collected payments will be disbursed and how the entire set-up would be managed and governed. The draft Recommendation on the operationalization of the Multilateral Mechanism provides four options on contribution to the fund by the users of digital sequence information on genetic resources and two options for disbursement, and indicates potential factors for allocation of resources from the global fund. 

Additionally, the text encompasses draft terms of reference for a potential expert group on allocation methodology and addresses the review of the Multilateral Mechanism by COP 18 of the Convention as well as interfacing with other international benefit-sharing instruments associated with the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, with a view to enhancing mutual supportiveness and coherence.

“The draft Decision that will be considered by COP 16 will require further consensus-building in Cali, but we clearly have come a long way. The negotiators tirelessly worked their way through a bulky set of technical and policy options in a great show of compromise and consensus-building. We are proud of what this group has achieved,” said the Co-Chairs of the negotiations, Mphatso Kalemba of Malawi and William Lockhart of the United Kingdom in a joint statement. 

At COP 16 in Cali, the Parties are expected to fine-tune agreement on pending issues, including aspects pertaining to data governance, the formula to be used for allocating resources from the global fund and the portion that would be earmarked for indigenous peoples and local communities, including women and youth, as custodians of biodiversity and holders of invaluable traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. Other areas where compromise will be sought include how national circumstances and the level of development of Parties would be considered in allocation decisions to ensure fairness and equity.

In Montreal, negotiators deliberated on a list of sectors and subsectors highly dependent on the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources that the operational modalities of the multilateral mechanism and the associated fund would apply to. These include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plant and animal breeding and agricultural biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, laboratory equipment associated with the sequencing and use of digital sequence information on genetic resources and information, scientific and technical services related to digital sequence information on genetic resources.

“I am confident that the Parties will find the path and the courage to compromise in Cali for the operationalization of a cost-effective, efficient and simple solution,” said Astrid Schomaker, the Executive Secretary of the CBD. “What we have seen here in Montreal this week is an impressive display of environmental multilateralism at its best.”

The multilateral mechanism and the associated global fund were adopted at COP 15 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)— the world’s masterplan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through the pursuit of 23 targets to be achieved by 2030. The monetary and non-monetary benefits distributed through the multilateral mechanism, including the global fund, would boost the implementation of the KMGBF, bridge capacity gaps among the Parties to the CBD and constitute a game-changer in the way biodiversity conservation is funded.