The Politics of Genetic Resource Control

The Politics of Genetic Resource Control PDF Author: A. Stenson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0333982851
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
The question of how genetic resources ought to be owned and controlled has become a controversial international political issue. The authors examine this issue from a normative perspective, discussing the four principles that govern the debate over genetic resource control. These four principles are proprietarian intellectual property rights (the dominant principle, reflecting Western influences); communitarian intellectual property rights (a principle bound up with the rights of indigenous peoples); national sovereignty (the principle at the heart of international law); and common heritage of mankind (the most recent principle reflecting Third World demands).

The Politics of Genetic Resource Control

The Politics of Genetic Resource Control PDF Author: A. Stenson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0333982851
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
The question of how genetic resources ought to be owned and controlled has become a controversial international political issue. The authors examine this issue from a normative perspective, discussing the four principles that govern the debate over genetic resource control. These four principles are proprietarian intellectual property rights (the dominant principle, reflecting Western influences); communitarian intellectual property rights (a principle bound up with the rights of indigenous peoples); national sovereignty (the principle at the heart of international law); and common heritage of mankind (the most recent principle reflecting Third World demands).

A Normative Analysis of the Politics of Genetic Resource Control

A Normative Analysis of the Politics of Genetic Resource Control PDF Author: Anthony Stenson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description


Shattering

Shattering PDF Author: Cary Fowler
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816511815
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
It was through control of the shattering of wild seeds that humans first domesticated plants. Now control over those very plants threatens to shatter the world's food supply, as loss of genetic diversity sets the stage for widespread hunger. Large-scale agriculture has come to favor uniformity in food crops. More than 7,000 U.S. apple varieties once grew in American orchards; 6,000 of them are no longer available. Every broccoli variety offered through seed catalogs in 1900 has now disappeared. As the international genetics supply industry absorbs seed companies—with nearly one thousand takeovers since 1970—this trend toward uniformity seems likely to continue; and as third world agriculture is brought in line with international business interests, the gene pools of humanity's most basic foods are threatened. The consequences are more than culinary. Without the genetic diversity from which farmers traditionally breed for resistance to diseases, crops are more susceptible to the spread of pestilence. Tragedies like the Irish Potato Famine may be thought of today as ancient history; yet the U.S. corn blight of 1970 shows that technologically based agribusiness is a breeding ground for disaster. Shattering reviews the development of genetic diversity over 10,000 years of human agriculture, then exposes its loss in our lifetime at the hands of political and economic forces. The possibility of crisis is real; this book shows that it may not be too late to avert it.

Managing Global Genetic Resources

Managing Global Genetic Resources PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309131863
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
This anchor volume to the series Managing Global Genetic Resources examines the structure that underlies efforts to preserve genetic material, including the worldwide network of genetic collections; the role of biotechnology; and a host of issues that surround management and use. Among the topics explored are in situ versus ex situ conservation, management of very large collections of genetic material, problems of quarantine, the controversy over ownership or copyright of genetic material, and more.

Genetic Resources as Natural Information

Genetic Resources as Natural Information PDF Author: Manuel Ruiz Muller
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317624165
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Demonstrating the shortcomings of current policy and legal approaches to access and benefit-sharing (ABS) in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), this book recognizes that genetic resources are widely distributed across countries and that bilateral contracts undermine fairness and equity. The book offers a practical and feasible regulatory alternative to ensure the goal of fairness and equity is effectively and efficiently met. Through a legal analysis that also incorporates historic, economic and sociological perspectives, the book argues that genetic resources are not tangible resources but information. It shows that the existing preference for bilateralism and contracts reflects resistance on the part of many of the stakeholders involved in the CBD process to recognize them as such. ABS issues respond very well to the economics of information, yet as the author explains, these have been either sidelined or overlooked. At a time when the Nagoya Protocol on ABS has renewed interest in feasible policy options, the author provides a constructive and provocative critique. The institutional, policy and regulatory framework constitute "bounded openness" under which fairness and equity emerge.

Genetic Resources, Equity and International Law

Genetic Resources, Equity and International Law PDF Author: Camena Guneratne
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 0857934953
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
ÔThis book provides a clear analysis of the multi-level impacts of the existing international law regime related to genetic resources on developing countries. It does so through a cogent exposition of the different areas of the law pertaining to genetic resources that are relevant and impact on people's rights and livelihoods. Its focus on equity is a welcome addition to the literature.Õ Ð Philippe Cullet, University of London, UK ÔCamena GuneratneÕs thought-provoking book critically evaluates the clash between the private property approach to genetic resources embedded in international intellectual property conventions, and the competing values embedded in a variety of other conventions and laws. She contests key assumptions behind intellectual property regimes supporting genetic commerce, distinguishing the genetic ÒcommonsÓ from other types of resource. This book provides a comprehensive scholarly dealing with the topics noted in its title, but also should increase debate about policy failures in responding to the risks to the underprivileged of the instruments we use to pursue our economic interests of the majority.Õ Ð Paul Martin, University of New England, Australia ÔThis is a wonderful book. All too often in the quest to preserve biodiversity, we forget that the equation of equity has to be at the forefront of the debates on sustainable development. Dr Guneratne rectifies this mistake. In doing so, she shows us that in many of the most importance instances, we are not only losing large parts of the natural basis on which humanity depends, but also the ability to control the political and legal processes of which many of the world's poorest people depend. This linkage between biodiversity, politics and international law is of such a high calibre, that it is likely that this work will become a key text for students and scholars alike.Õ Ð Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato, New Zealand This book examines current developments in international law which regulate the uses of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and the various property regimes which are applied to these resources by these international agreements. In the current context of the global food crisis, the development and stability of national agricultural systems is an urgent concern, particularly among developing countries. This stability, and national food security, will potentially be threatened if these countries are unable to have free access to agricultural crop plants. This book analyses a range of international agreements including the recently adopted Nagoya Protocol and demonstrates that in their current implementation they favour private ownership of these resources rather than free access. The book takes the position that this is inherently inequitable and these resources should be maintained in the public domain. This book will be of use to a wide range of readers from students and scholars to those working in the fields of trade and intellectual property, human rights, environmental conservation and advocacy on international issues. It contains a rigorous legal analysis of current international law development on the issue based on the negotiations which have taken place in the relevant forums, and will therefore be particularly useful to lawyers and legal scholars. It is also written in an uncomplicated style which makes it readily accessible to non-lawyers and the case studies and empirical data used throughout the book adds to its interest.

Seeds and Sovereignty

Seeds and Sovereignty PDF Author: Jack R. Kloppenburg Jr.
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822399733
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Seeds for economically important crops are big business indeed. As large seed companies continue to improve their product in various ways, they make use of the original gene pools of these plants, often located in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. With increasing recognition that plant germplasm is an important raw material, highly charged international disputes have developed over the exchange and use of this material, adding another point of contention between poor nations and the manufacturing wealthier ones. Twenty experts from several nations, representing both the natural and social sciences, consider the historical background, the issue of patent rights as applied to plant germplasm, the nature of global genetic interdependence, the internationalization of the seed industry, the implications of biotechnology on genetic resources, the Third World attitude toward the debate, and the viewpoints of the International Agricultural Research Centers.

The Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources

The Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources PDF Author: J.G. Hawkes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401141363
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
It is a distressing truism that the human race during the last millennium has caused the exponential loss of plant genetic diversity throughout the world. This has had direct and negative economic, political and social consequences for the human race, which at the same time has failed to exploit fully the positive benefits that might result from conserving and exploiting the world's plant genetic resources. However, a strong movement to halt this loss of plant diversity and enhance its utilisation for the benefit of all humanity has been underway since the 1960's (Frankel and Bennett, 1970; Frankel and Hawkes, 1975). This initiative was taken up by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992) that not only expounds the need to conserve biological diversity but links conservation to exploitation and development for the benefit of all. Article 8 of the Convention clearly states the need to develop more effective and efficient guidelines to conserve biological diversity, while Article 9, along with the FAO International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, promotes the adoption of a complementary approach to conservation that incorporates both ex situ and in situ techniques.

Coping with Climate Change

Coping with Climate Change PDF Author:
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
ISBN: 9789251084410
Category : Aquatic germplasm resources
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Genetic resources for food and agriculture play a crucial role in food security, nutrition and livelihoods and in the provision of environmental services. They are key components of sustainability, resilience and adaptability in production systems. They underpin the ability of crops, livestock, aquatic organisms and forest trees to withstand a range of harsh conditions. Climate change poses new challenges to the management of the world's genetic resources for food and agriculture, but it also underlines their importance. At the request of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO prepared thematic studies on the interactions between climate change and plant, animal, forest, aquatic, invertebrate and micro-organism genetic resources. This publication summarizes the results of these studies.

Evaluating Human Genetic Diversity

Evaluating Human Genetic Diversity PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309184746
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 101

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Book Description
This book assesses the scientific value and merit of research on human genetic differencesâ€"including a collection of DNA samples that represents the whole of human genetic diversityâ€"and the ethical, organizational, and policy issues surrounding such research. Evaluating Human Genetic Diversity discusses the potential uses of such collection, such as providing insight into human evolution and origins and serving as a springboard for important medical research. It also addresses issues of confidentiality and individual privacy for participants in genetic diversity research studies.