ABSTRACT

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is comprehensive in scope, as biodiversity is defined as species and ecosystems worldwide, as well as the genetic diversity within species. The balance between Access to Genetic Resources and Equitable Benefit Sharing and intellectual property rights remains contested. Also contested are safeguarding rights of indigenous peoples and local communities’ traditional knowledge of biodiversity. Increasingly studied are institutional interactions, including processes to enhance policy coherence between biodiversity-related conventions and the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Trade Organization and the climate change regime. In addition to the direct economic values of genetic resources, biodiversity as a whole provides ecosystem services, such as local water and climate regulation, building materials, firewood, pollination, and soil fertility. The greatest threat to biodiversity lies in land use change, and the CBD ecosystem approach recommends reducing market distortions that undervalue natural systems and provide perverse incentives and subsidies.