ABS Science HuB

The Access and Benefit-Sharing Science HuB (ABS Science HuB) helps researchers understand their obligations arising from Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) instruments, such as the Nagoya Protocol by facilitating key information in simple and friendly terms. It provides compliance support through interactive information sessions and its help desk, and promotes practical solutions to commonly faced ABS-related challenges for the benefit of researchers across the world. The project also encourages and supports scientists to participate in outreach activities and engage international policy developments surrounding access and benefit-sharing across multiple UN fora (CBD, ITPGRFA, BBNJ and WHO). It helps give a voice to academic and non-commercial users of genetic resources and digital sequence information at relevant UN negotiations that have global impact. The ABS Science HuB builds on the achievements of the German Nagoya Protocol HuB project.

The project will keep and further develop the existing resources including the HuB website, informational material (infographics, videos, etc), and the HuB network. This project is funded by members of the Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen (German Alliance of Science Organisations). The project sponsoring members of the Alliance are the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF), the Leibniz Association, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Max Planck Society.

Project objectives:

1. Advice for researchers and research institutions in Germany on fulfilling their ABS obligations and continuous provision of information on developments concerning the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol, both nationally and internationally.
2. Networking of all stakeholders through regular contacts with researchers and involved authorities at national and international level in order to strive for a better design and enforceability of ABS rules in the long term and to facilitate compliance with obligations for researchers or to promote international research.
3. To collect and evaluate experiences and data from academic research in order to feed them into policy processes for the assessment of research frameworks and thus to provide scientific support for future international policy negotiations.