ET-NMBS

Negotiations on Access and Benefit Sharing,(the third objective of the CBD), have often focused on monetary benefits. However, the non-monetary benefits generated primarily by academic research, receive less attention. During the negotiations on the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), the goal of a quantifiable increase in monetary and non-monetary benefits (Goal C and Target 13) emerged. With this commitment, there is a new opportunity to highlight and quantify the significant investment in research and resulting non-monetary benefit sharing (NMBS).

The project will develop and apply new, standardized methods for quantifying three types of NMBS arising from ABS instruments: research and development results, joint scientific publications with authors from the provider country, and publications relevant to conservation, sustainable use, food security, and public health. The new methodology will harness open scientific results, text mine them for citation of an ABS permit, and perform additional bibliographic analysis to quantify the different types of NMBS. Project results will be brought into the CBD process and the Global Biodviversity Framework Monitoring Framework, to help demonstrate the extent and impact of NMBS. Research is focused on the standardization, quantification, and reporting of NMBS at a global scale, structured in five work packages.

The ET-NMBS project is financed through the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN) with funds from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) from 2022-2025 and will support and engage with the Kunming-Montreal GBF and broader international processes.

Major Goals:

• Develop and apply standardized methods for quantifying non-monetary benefits from academic research arising from ABS instruments, to increase visibility, demonstrate their impact within the CBD process, and support the Global Biodiversity Framework and its monitoring framework.
• Perform a global assessment of non-monetary benefits where genetic resources have been utilized but the ABS instrument can't be found. Together with the previous objective, the project will approximate the scale of the ABS world and non-monetary benefit-sharing.
• Assess the impact and value of the non-monetary benefit-sharing on the provider countries of genetic resources.
• Propose concrete and simplified ABS measures to improve the quantification and monitoring of non-monetary benefit-sharing. These measures will include best practices to improve the way ABS agreements are disclosed in scientific publications and model clauses for provider countries to require disclosure of ABS agreements.

This project has received funding from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz).