ABSTRACT
Since the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992a) the notion of fair and equitable sharing from access to, and use of, genetic resources has received increasing attention. Social and political scientists, and representatives of development organizations, have begun to support policy-makers in exploring how to put this relatively new policy and legal framework into practice. One challenge is to link the global concept on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) to farmers' activities in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at local level (i.e. community biodiversity management, CBM). Together, farmers, researchers, companies and conservation professionals can look at how ABS, in relation to plant genetic resources (PGR), can be taken from the negotiation table and brought to a level where it can achieve its objective (i.e. to share in a fair and equitable manner any benefits derived from the use of genetic resources).
