Multilateral benefit-sharing from digital sequence information will support both science and biodiversity conservation
Amber Hartman Scholz, Jens Freitag, Christopher H. C. Lyal, Rodrigo Sara, Martha Lucia Cepeda, Ibon Cancio, Scarlett Sett, Andrew L. Hufton, Yemisrach Melkie Abebaw, K. C. Bansal, Halima Benbouza, Hamadi Boga, Sylvain Brisse, Michael W. Bruford, Hayley Clissold, Guy Cochrane, Jonathan A. Coddington, Anne-Caroline Deletoille, Felipe García-Cardona, Michelle Hamer, Raquel Hurtado‐Ortiz, Douglas W. Miano, D E. Nicholson, Guilherme Oliveira, Carlos Ospina Bravo, Fabian Rohden, Ole Seberg, Gernot Segelbacher, Yogesh S. Shouche, Alejandra Sierra, Ilene Karsch‐Mizrachi, Jessica M. da Silva, Desiree M. Hautea, Manuela da Silva, Mutsuaki Suzuki, Kassahun Tesfaye, Christian Keambou Tiambo, Krystal A. Tolley, Rajeev K. Varshney, María Mercedes Zambrano, Jörg Overmann
Abstract
Open access to sequence data is a cornerstone of biology and biodiversity research, but has created tension under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Policy decisions could compromise research and development, unless a practical multilateral solution is implemented. Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data without jeopardising open sharing is a major obstacle for the Convention on Biological Diversity and other UN negotiations. Here, the authors propose a solution to address the concerns of both developing countries and life scientists.