Access and Rights to Genetic Resources: A Nordic Approach (II)

In 2003, the Nordic Council of Ministers issued the report “Access and Rights to Genetic Resources: A Nordic Approach”. Considering the international framework developed on access to genetic resources and benefit sharing from its use, the report and the ministerial follow-up, the Kalmar Declaration, provided a set of recommendations on how the Nordic countries and the Nordic Gene Bank should respond to this development regarding different types of genetic resources.  Since then, several new and relevant international developments have occurred. This has created a need for renewed awareness and new recommendations on the Nordic approach to access and rights to genetic resources by the Nordic countries and The Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen). In this updated report, several new issues are addressed such as for example the digitalization of genetic information and new international agreements like the Nagoya Protocol and the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.