SCELG at the World Health Organization

August 2018: In June 2018, Dr Stephanie Switzer was invited to contribute to a two-day, closed-door workshop on pathogen sharing in Geneva. The workshop, organised by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), aimed to explore ways to facilitating access and benefit sharing (ABS) for pathogens to support public health as well as learn from to learn from countries’ experiences in implementing the Nagoya Protocol and its public health provisions.

The invitation followed the preparation by Dr Switzer, together with Prof Elisa Morgera and Dr Elsa Tsioumani, of a study for the CBD 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, as well as on 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).

A report of the event is available here.

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.