Introduction
One of the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity is the "fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding".
The mandate to negotiate an international regime on access and benefit-sharing was established by the COP at its seventh meeting, in 2004. The eighth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit sharing (WGABS 8) will be held in Montreal, Canada from 9 to 15 November 2009. This meeting is the second of three mandated by the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, held in Bonn in May 2008, to finalize the negotiation of the international regime.”
