The evolving ABS landscape needs input from the research community to promote sound policies, international cooperation, open science, and good scientific practices globally. The HuB provides scientific input to international ABS policy fora by staying on top of key isssues, collecting and evaluating user experiences, gathering and creating empirical data and feeding all of them into policy processes.
The ABS Science HuB Policy Activities
Although ABS primarily deals with tangible genetic resources, the most important ongoing debate in recent years has focused on the unique and complex challenges posed by digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources (GR). In particular, how to ensure the sharing of benefits from the use of DSI on GR in a fair and equitable manner.
Four UN fora are actively negotiating new international measures that adress benefit sharing from the use of DSI. It is important that scientists and researchers who use DSI today engage policymakers and participate in the ongoing international policy discussions. The Hub is a co-funder providing in-kind contributions and staff support for the DSI Scientific Network.
