1. Introduction -- 2. The basic principles of genetic resources as regards ABS -- 3. The economic framework of the ABS concept -- 4. The effectiveness of ABS : critical factors and measures used to address them -- 5. Implementation of ABS regulations in provider and user countries -- 6. Conclusions
Summary
During the last ten years the enormous global loss of biodiversity has received remarkable attention. Among the numerous approaches undertaken to stop or lessen this process, access and benefit-sharing (ABS), a market-based approach, has emerged as among the most prominent. In theory, ABS turns biodiversity and genetic resources from an open access good to a private good and creates a market for genetic resources. It internalizes the resources' positive externalities by pricing the commercial values for research and development and makes users pay for it. Users' benefits are shared with the
