Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resource and the Fairand Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (herein after referred as to "the Protocol") was adopted at the tenth meeting of...
Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resource and the Fairand Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (herein after referred as to "the Protocol") was adopted at the tenth meeting of Conference of the Parties to the CBD on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. Adopting the Protocol and taking into effecting within a few upcoming years, the many countries which signed on the Protocol and the countries not singed but which would be affected by the Protocol would have face with to prepare legal and institutional framework considering both positive and negative features by the Protocol within the international regime of access and benefit sharing (ABS) based on genetic resources.
The Protocol is structured into 27 preambular paragraphs, 36 articles, and one annex, and this study examines and summaries the core provisions of the Protocol. The core and controversial issues have been drawn as follows: 'access requirements', 'benefit sharing', 'utilization of genetic resources and range of
utilization', 'indigenous and local communities and traditional knowledge', 'temporal scope', 'compliance', 'monitoring' and so on. The Protocol, itself, has several achievements such as
instituting how to approach the genetic resources from other countries and how to share the benefits utilizing from those resources. However, the Protocol still has several drawbacks such as its ambiguous expression in central provisions or no clarifications where it is essentially needed.
Adopting the Protocol, the rich countries in terms of genetic
resources, which are usually developing countries, are likely to enforce their legal system to manage genetic resources nationally and internationally according to the requirements of the Protocol. In other hand, the poor countries in terms of natural resources but having cutting-edge technology to utilize the resources would prepare how to cooperate resources-rich countries in legal and political manners.
The study would first provide the analysis of the Protocol and the current status of legal framework in various countries grouped into two; resources-rich and not rich. The rich countries in terms of genetic or natural resources are China, Australia, India, Brazil and Norway, otherwise the resources-user countries are Japan, Canada and USA
representatively. Those countries are the Parties of CBD except USA and they have their own national regulation coping with ABS international regime.
As the next step, the study would explore the current legal
system of Korea as regard to the Protocol and the CBD. The Korean Government has recently legislated the Law on the Conservation and Utilization on the Biodiversity and will enforce the Law in February 2013, and the study would examine this Law in detail with a view of distinctions with existing laws and regulations in Korea. Lastly, this study would provide the legal and institutional framework and approaches which could be considered to maximize the effects of the Law on the Conservation and Utilization on the Biodiversity.