Biodiversity based innovation as a lever for local economic developpement.

Can the Nagoya Protocol on ABS become a lever for financing biodiversity conservation?

The Nagoya Protocol set out the framework for States holding genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge to get a share in the benefits derived by users. This can be summed up in one acronym: ABS, for “Access and Benefit Sharing”. The new mechanism, which is the result of decades of international debate, can open up real opportunities for the development of territories and the preservation of their biodiversity, for the benefit of their inhabitants. For France, both producer and user of genetic resources, characterized by the richness of its natural resources, particularly in the foreign territories, ABS appears as an opportunity. But while the principle is clear, the application is far from obvious.

The issue of valorisation is complix. Indeed, it requires the actors concerned to put in place a strategy for the supply of genetic resources that meets the expectations of a market. Thus, a “business” approach, including market studies, research and development, organization of supply, investments, communication, etc., without which the most beautiful genetic resources would simply not find customers.

What are the opportunities for the french foreign territories? How to grasp them?

Find the publication, in french, here.