ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on ex situ collections of microbes and how they adjust to Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) conditions. Microbiological resources and their derivatives are the essential raw material for the advancement of human health, food security, biotechnology, and research and development in all life sciences. Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) that preserve microbial resources ex situ and distribute these for science, industrial development and education are key contributors to the Convention of Biological Diversity's (CBD) main objectives of conservation of global biological diversity. Tailored solutions for compliance and for facilitating access should be designed for microbiology and it's ex situ collections, which are tools promoted by CBD Art. Biotechnology and bio energy will constitute around a third of the industrial production. Against this background, a growing scientific and economic demand is being witnessed for increased cooperative research and joint development that is based on living biological material.
