The 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

The tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity successfully adopted the ‘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’ in October 2010. This article identifies the main challenges in the final negotiations and explains the framework for access and benefit‐sharing established by the Protocol both for genetic resources and for traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. It also describes in more detail the Protocol's economic, temporal and geographic scope; its relationship to other international instruments; the treatment of pathogens; the role of non‐commercial research; and the global multilateral benefit‐sharing mechanism. The article then identifies next steps at national level and at international level – in the Intergovernmental Committee set up to prepare the entry into force of the Protocol – to ensure that the Nagoya Protocol becomes a major tool for benefit‐sharing as well as for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.