[GenderAbs] WELCOMING Message

[Paula Zuñiga]

Put women’s interests at the centre of the Convention on Biological
Diversity – a gender lens on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and on the
Prior Informed Consent (PIC)   

 

Message from the facilitator

 

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you all back for our List-serve
discussion

on the gender-specific aspects and interests in Access and Benefit Sharing
(ABS) in on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD).

 

Although we started an Online Discussion earlier, technical problems
hampered communication. That’s why we re-start the Discussion and are really
looking forward to your inputs, ideas, suggestions and experiences.
International CBD-discussions are currently underway regarding aspects that
could be considered in the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) international
regime and Prior Informed Consent (PIC). 

 

The results of our Discussion on gender aspects of ABS regime and PIC, will
be put forward to the international CBD-discussions.  From 20-31 March the
8th Conference of Parties of the CBD will take place in Brazil, but even
earlier Working Groups assemble to discuss ABS regimes and PIC. We hope that
our discussion will form  a strong message on the relevance of a
gender-specific approach in these discussions 

 

IUCN  has prepared two background-documents for our discussion: ‘The absence
of gender equity from the discussions about the international regime ABS’
and ‘Prior and Informed Consent: a women’s right’ – see attachments. 

 

Our e-mail discussion takes place from 15 December 2005 until 15 January
2006 (four weeks).  Until 31 December we are focusing our discussions on
gender equity in the discussions about the international regime on Access
and Benefit-Sharing (ABS). 

>From 1-15 January we will look specifically to the gender aspects of the
Prior Informed Consent (PIC) in the CBD-context. 

 

Period one: 15- 31 December 2005: Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) 

See attached background document: ‘The absence of gender equity from the
discussions about the international regime ABS’.

 

As the background document underlines: “Although over the last decade a
great number of experiences has documented women’s uses of and knowledge
about genetic resources, women continue lacking an equitable participation
in the access, control and benefit sharing of these resources. Even  though
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) makes references to the role
that women play in relation to biodiversity, it is neither sufficient nor
does it effectively contribute to promote gender equity. Although the CBD
has been in force for over a decade, and despite the significant progress
made, no specific decisions have been made regarding fair sharing of
benefits and equitable access to the genetic resources, which task entails
clear and fair agreements and instruments between user countries and
countries of origin. “

 

Questions that we want to put forward to you for the ABS Discussion:

(1)   Why should gender equity be included explicitly in the ABS
international regime?

(2)   Which are the specific implications of gender equity and cultural
diversity in the formulation of an ABS international regime? 

(3)   How can (or should) gender equity be included in ABS international
regime? How can present ABS discussions make visible and recognize women’s
participation?

(4)   How can an ABS international regime contribute to solve practical
aspects that hamper gender equity in terms of access and benefit sharing of
benefits of the gender resources and promote equity? 

 

Please feel invited to share your views and experiences in these areas. You
can post your contributions by replying to this message. 

 

We will keep you informed on the progress of the discussion, and I will
summarize the outcomes. 

 

We are very much looking forward to your contributions.

Warm regards,

 

Irene Dankelman

(facilitator for IUCN)

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://generoyambiente.org/pipermail/abs_generoyambiente.org/attachments/20051221/cff60303/attachment.htm