CISDL Biodiversity & Biosafety Programme
Responds to SDG 15 Life on Land, SDG 14 Life Below Water, SDG 6 Clean Water & Sanitation
Prof. Jorge Cabrera, Lead Counsel
Mr. Ignacio Sanchez Gonzalez, Programme Coordinator*
Biological diversity has become alarmingly degraded in the last few decades, to the extent that species extinction is estimated to be occurring nearly 1000 times faster than baseline levels. Trends may continue increasing this century, making the ‘anthropocene’ one of the six biggest extinctions in our planet’s history. To implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and its Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Protocol, and the CBD Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), through the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, there is new impetus towards conservation and sustainable development of biological resources. With many countries and regions in the process of reforming their laws and institutions to implement these international instruments for sustainable development, there is a pressing need for legal expertise, research, and advice in this emerging field of research and education.
In contribution to global efforts, through our Biodiversity Programme in 2022-2027, CISDL aims to:
- Advance research on exemplary biodiversity laws demonstrating success in national implementation of the provisions of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the post-2020 Strategic Plan on Biodiversity and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
- Research and build capacity for the implementation of ABS measures, existing gaps in ABS systems, and future research priorities on ABS, in the context of ongoing discussions at the UN CBD, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Convention on the Law of the Sea processes (including biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction) and the World Intellectual Property Organization, among others.
- Analyse the implementation of biosafety regimes and innovative legal practices for biosafety, researching pressing sustainable development questions in law and policy on biosafety including food aid and socio-economic considerations, and surveying the current state-of-play, taking into account developments in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the WTO.
- Advance knowledge and understanding of international regimes on biological diversity, building global legal research and advisory capacity on biological resources, ecosystem services, biotrade and the green economy; and leading research and synergies among biodiversity regimes as tools for sustainable development such as the UN CBD and its Protocols, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on Migratory Species, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and others.
Lead Counsel: Prof. Jorge Cabrera, B.C.L, LL.M. & M.B.A. University of Costa Rica.
BLGI Programme Coordinator: Adv. Ignacio Sanchez Gonzales* LL.B., LL.M. (Chile)
Senior Research Fellowship: Prof. Chidi Oguamanam, LL.B., LL.M, Ph.D University of Ottawa (Canada/Nigeria); Prof. Robert Kibugi LL.D. (Kenya).
Legal Research Fellowship: Mrs. Abike Yacoubou Chabi-Yo, LL.M. (Canada/Benin); Adv. Harry Jones LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. (South Africa); Mr. Guy Jules Kounga, LL.M. (Cameroon); Ms. Lydia Young B.Sc. (Canada); Mr. Freedom-Kai Phillips, B.Sc., M.A., LL.B. (Canada); Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Sweden).
CISDL Legal Specialist Award
CISDL Legal Specialist Award 2022: Prof. Hugo Echeverria, Universidad San Fransisco de Quito, Ecuador
CISDL Legal Specialist Award 2021: Adv. Harry Jonas, World Wildlife Fund
CISDL Legal Specialist Award 2020: Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima, Stockholm University, Sweden
CISDL Legal Specialist Award 2019: Prof. Robert Kibugi, University of Narobi, Kenya
Key Publications
- New ABS Legislation and Practice in Compliance with the Nagoya Protocol: Current Situation and Perspectives in Costa Rica by Jorge Cabrera in Global Transformations in the Use of Biodiversity for Research and Development: Post Nagoya Protocol Implementation Amid Unresolved and Arising Issues by Evanson Chege Kamau (Springer 2022): This book examines new laws and practice and how they comply with the Nagoya Protocol and provides solutions to selected questions on ABS based on real-world and hypothetical cases, which could instigate litigation in the field of international environmental law, international biodiversity law, international property law, climate law and the law of indigenous populations.
- Biotecnología, conocimientos tradicionales y recursos genéticos, en Material Instructivo. Modulo Avanzado de Propiedad Intelectual. Programa de Formación Continua para Formadores de Instituciones de Propiedad Intelectual, Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual by Jorge Cabrera (Ginebra 2021):
- Costa Rica ABS Legislation and Practice by Jorge Cabrera in Chemau, Evanson (ed), Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol: Fulfilling new obligations among emerging issues, BfN 564 (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation 2019): This book examines benefit-sharing, as anchored on articles 15 and 8 j of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to explore access to genetic resources (GR) and traditional knowledge associated to such resources (aTK) and the sharing on benefits arising from their utilisation.
- International law and marine ecosystem governance: the climate change nexus by Freedom-Kai Phillips and Konstantia Koutouki in Paul G. Harris (ed), Climate Change and Ocean Governance: Politics and Policy for Threatened Seas (Cambridge University Press 2019): This interdisciplinary book examines the political and policy dimensions of climate change for our oceans and provides lessons and solutions on the unavoidable connections between climate change, the oceans, and (marine) governance
- Legal Aspects of Implementing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety by Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Frederic Perron-Welch and Christine Frison (eds) (Cambridge University Press 2013): This book, the first in a series that focuses on treaty implementation for sustainable development, examines key legal aspects of implementing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at national and international levels. Examines the practical, legal, political and economic challenges and solutions encountered in the development and implementation of biosafety regulatory regimes in several countries from different regions of the world.
- Jorge Cabrera Mediaglia, ‘Capítulo V Propiedad Intelectual, Recursos Genéticos y Derecho a la Alimentación: Recientes Desarrollos de Interés’ in Xavier Pons Rafols (ed), Alimentación y Derecho Internacional. Normas, Instituciones y Procesos (2013), Ediciones Jurídicas y Sociales: This book highlights the shortcomings of the global governance system for food security and is evidence of the failure and limited scope, from an international perspective, of development policies, cooperation policies and agri-food policies.
- Jorge Cabrera et al., Bringing Access and Benefit Sharing into the Digital Age (2022) in Plants, People and Planet, Vol. 4, 5–12.
- Jorge Cabrera Medaglia, Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and Benefit-Sharing Arising from Its Use: An Unfinished Discussion, GRUR International, Volume 69, Issue 6, June 2020, 565–566.
- Jorge Cabrera, Consideraciones y opciones legales para el combate de la biopiratería en América Latina Portal Jurídico Interdisciplinario Pólemos, Asociación Civil Derecho & Sociedad, institución sin fines de lucro de la Facultad de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2020).
- Jorge Cabrera, El Protocolo De Nagoya Sobre Acceso a Recuros Geneticos y Distribucion d Legales y de Polit e Benefocios: i Opciones ca Para su Implementacion, CISDL Working Paper (CISDL 2015).