SCELG awarded consultancy on the Nagoya Protocol and specialized ABS agreements
The consultancy builds upon the work of Prof Elisa Morgera and Elsa Tsioumani
September 2017: The Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) has been awarded an international consultancy by the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to prepare a study on possible criteria to identify what constitutes a “specialized international access and benefit-sharing instrument” in the context of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing. The study will also investigate a possible process for recognizing such specialized instruments.
The study (UN Doc CBD/SBI/2/INF/17) was discussed at, and welcomed by, the Second meeting of the CBD Subsidiary Body on Implementation (9 - 13 July 2018, Montreal, Canada).
Follow-up on Nagoya Protocol COP-MOP in Cancun
The study responds to a request made by the parties to the Nagoya Protocol in December 2016 with regard to cooperation with other international organizations, convention and initiatives, following a report by the World Health Organization on “Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and Pathogen Sharing: Public Health Implications”. The study will be considered by parties to the Nagoya Protocol in 2018.
The consultancy builds upon the scholarly work of Prof Elisa Morgera, SCELG Director, and Elsa Tsioumani on the interpretation of the Nagoya Protocol (including an open-access Commentary published by Martinus Nijhoff in 2014, and the BENELEX project) and provides an opportunity to explore synergies with the research on regime interaction conducted by another SCELG member, Dr Stephanie Switzer.
BENELEX researchers Elisa Morgera and Elsa Tsioumani, and Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance colleague Stephanie Switzer have prepared a report for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on criteria to identify a specialized international access and benefit-sharing instrument, and a possible process for its recognition. The report will be discussed at the upcoming Second meeting of the CBD Subsidiary Body on Implementation (9 -13 July 2018, Montreal, Canada): https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/9376/a644/1bed20a1837af8e3d1edc5f9/sbi-02-inf-17-en.pdf
Practice-Led Teaching
Click here for more information on SCELG’s work on biodiversity and its partnership with the CBD. SCELG runs the LLM in Global Environmental Law and Governance, the LLM in Climate & Energy Law, and the LLM in Law of the Sea, Sustainable Development and International Law.