ABSTRACT
The fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requested countries to look at the development of guidelines and codes of best practice for access and benefit-sharing arrangements (Decision IV/8.3). Consideration is now being given to non-legal frameworks under the umbrella of voluntary codes of conduct (VCCs). VCCs are now under development by individual institutions and groups. One of the earlier efforts is underway in India, where the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Madras, is developing a VCC for activities relating to agrobiodiversity conservation and the development of community biodiversity registers (see Chapter 4). In 1995, the development of community biodiversity registers began in India as a way to document biodiversity and associated knowledge at the village level. As this programme evolved, the registers came to be seen as store houses of information on biodiversity and traditional knowledge, and the potential for their use in claiming rights over resources and knowledge emerged. However, until recently, issues associated with prior informed consent and the reaching of mutually agreed terms with communities whose knowledge was collected were not considered. With this in mind, the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation developed a voluntary code of conduct to guide such activities in the spirit of the CBD. The code was developed through a wide consultation process, involving non-governmental organizations (NGOs), fieldworkers, lawyers, scientists and policy-makers. The application of the code at the field level is still under experimentation, but it shows promise as a possible prelude to implementing Article 8 (j) of the CBD. A VCC for community biodiversity registers must consider the following questions:
• Who owns the genetic resources? • How can prior informed consent (PIC) be obtained? • What are material transfer agreements (MTAs)? • Who is authorized in the community to provide PIC and sign MTAs? • Who will manage the community biodiversity register? • Who will have access to the register? • Will the register be used as an official document in order to settle disputes?
