Home  Access & Benefit Sharing  The Project  Publications  Events  Links  Contact		About the ABS Research Project The Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Research Project of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) focuses on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Africa, especially its provisions on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the utilization of these resources. The project is part of Norway's participation in the ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa, a multi-donor initiative aimed at building human and institutional capacity in African countries to enable them to deal with ABS issues. Early work undertaken by the FNI on issues regarding the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol was the Polhøgda meeting which was sponsored by the GIZ-ABS Initiative for Africa and the Norwegian government. At this meeting, the particularly interesting and political potent Multilateral Benefit Sharing Mechanism according to NP Art 10 was discussed. The main conclusion from the workshop is that everything regarding if and how such a mechanism can be crafted. It seems also very useful to approach ABS from a comprehensive approach as to meet the goals of benefit sharing contributing in a fair and equitable manner to the conservation of the global biological diversity. FNI is Norway's leading centre of expertise on political science and legal research on international biodiversity governance, and has worked on these issues for almost two decades. The overall goal of FNI's participation is to improve the knowledge management and foundation related to work on ABS, in Africa and elsewhere, in collaboration with African partners and the Secretariat of the Initiative, currently hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Germany. This provides the initiative with essential input for effectively building capacity on ABS issues in Africa. The project indirectly builds capacity among researchers in Africa, as FNI's research contribution is carried out in collaboration with African partners. This approach also ensures that due consideration is given to the needs and priorities of the countries in question. The framework is adapted to, but also complementary to, the capacity development approach of the Initiative as such. Within the ABS Research Project, there are five work packages, each focusing on a specific research need central to enabling effective implementation of ABS in Africa, in user countries, and at the international level: 1. ABS interfaces with other issue areas and challenges for policy coherence 2. Analysis of ABS experiences in Africa 3. Options for African impact on ABS negotiations and for implementation 4. User-country measures 5. Analysis of the tools of the ABS initiative itself The ABS Research Project is to produce a wide range of outputs, from side events and information dissemination at negotiation meetings, to scientific background studies, peer reviewed articles, technical briefing papers, information folders, and presentations at various workshops and seminars.  See overview of project publications > Project work started in June 2009, with most of the research being carried out in 2010 and 2011. Outside the GIZ-collaboration, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute also co-hosted a two day workshop on ABS from the perspectives of law and political science in September 2011. The papers presented at the workshop will be drawn together as an edited book by Kristin Rosendal and Sebastian Oberthür (Institute for European Studies).		The work packages WP1: ABS interfaces with other issue areas and challenges for policy coherence WP2: Analysis of ABS experiences in Africa WP3: Options for African impact on ABS negotiations and for implementation WP4: User -country measures WP5: Analysis of the tools of the ABS initiative itself Other related pages Contact & project team Information pamphlets About the project About the report 'Balancing Building Blocks of a Functional ABS System' About FNI's research on biological diversity About FNI FNI is a leading centre of expertise on international biodiversity governance and has longstanding experience in the analysis of the relations between access, benefit-sharing and intellectual property rights pertaining to genetic resources. The FNI research encompasses the management of both wild and domesticated genetic resources, including specific work regarding plant, animal, fish and forest tree genetic resources.  More >
			The ABS Research Project c/o Fridtjof Nansen Institute P.O.Box 326, 1326 Lysaker, Norway. Tel: +47 67111900 / E-mail: post (+@fni.no)