GENETIC RESOURCES AS CULTURE AND HERITAGE: REPATRIATION AND BENEFIT SHARINGGenetic Resources • June 17th, 2024
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (‘CBD’) and its implementing agreement, 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 (‘Nagoya Protocol’), provide for access and benefit sharing (‘ABS’) of genetic resources. This article considers whether genetic resources, like bacteria, plants and animals, and their parts and components, can be both property (possession objects representing economic interests of owners) and culture and heritage (objects, ideas, stories and so on, being symbolic of an identity) under the CBD and Nagoya Protocol ABS arrangements, and then what this might mean for possible claims for repatriation. Showcasing Australian laws, the article concludes that conceiving genetic resources as culture and heritage is important for finding creative and effective solutions to fair and equitable benefit sharing for Indigenous Peoples and l
