• First ever collection of findings about the proliferation of urban agriculture written by the world’s leading authority in the field• Urban agriculture feeds hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is a rapidly emerging issue in urban and developm

The Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is rapidly receiving signatures and ratifications. Many countries are preparing to implement the protocol through national research permit systems and/or biodiversity laws. Yet there is still considerable confusion about how to implement the Protocol, regarding access and benefit-sharing (ABS) procedures, and minimal experience in many countries. This book seeks to remedy this gap in understanding by analysing a number of ABS case studies in light of the Nagoya Protocol. The case studies are wide-ranging, with examples of plants for medicinal, cosmetic, biotech and food products from or for development in Australia, North Africa, Madagascar, Switzerland, Thailand, USA and Oceania. These will encourage countries to develop national systems which maximise their benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) towards conservation and support for local communities that hold traditional knowledge. In addition, the author analyses new expectations raised by the Nagoya Protocol, such as the encouragement of the development of community protocols by indigenous and local communities. As a result, stakeholders and policy-makers will be able to learn the steps involved in establishing ABS agreements, issues that arise between stakeholders, and the types of benefits that might be realistic.

Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Table of Legal Materials Cited; Introduction; 1 The International Debate on Access and Benefit-sharing; 1.1 Asymmetries and the Ethical Rationale for ABS; 1.2 An Incentive-based Approach to Biodiversity Conservation and the Economic Rationale for ABS; 1.3 The ABS Provisions of the CBD; 2 From the CBD to the Nagoya Protocol via the Bonn Guidelines; 3 Traditional Knowledge and ABS; 4 Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as Beneficiaries of the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol.

Globally, local and indigenous approaches to conserving biodiversity, crop improvement, and managing precious natural resources are under threat. Many communities have to deal with 'biopiracy,' for example. As well, existing laws are usually unsuitable for protecting indigenous and traditional knowledge and for recognizing collective rights, such as in cases of participatory plant breeding, where farmers, researchers and others join forces to improve existing crop varieties or develop new ones, based on shared knowledge and resources. This book addresses these issues. It outlines the national and international policy processes that are currently underway to protect local genetic resources and related traditional knowledge and the challenges these initiatives have faced. In particular these themes are addressed within the context of the Convention of Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The authors broaden the policy and legal debates beyond the sphere of policy experts to include the knowledge-holders themselves. These are the 'custodians of biodiversity': farmers, herders and fishers in local communities. Their experience in sharing access and benefits to genetic resources is shown to be crucial for the development of effective national and international agreements. The book presents and analyzes this experience, including case studies from China, Cuba, Honduras, Jordan, Nepal, Peru and Syria. Copublished with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

In Incorporating Indigenous Rights in the International Regime on Biodiversity Protection, Federica Cittadino convincingly interprets the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its related instruments in light of indigenous rights and the principle of self-determination. Cittadino’s harmonisation of these formally separated regimes serves at least two main purposes. First, it ensures respect for the human rights framework that protects indigenous rights whilst implementing the biodiversity regime. Second, harmonisation allows for the full operationalisation of the indigenous related provisions of the CBD framework that concern traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and protected areas. Federica Cittadino successfully demonstrates that the CBD may allow for the protection of indigenous rights in ways that are more advanced than under current human rights law.

As the first of its kind, this handbook presents state-of-the-art information and analysis concerning the state of affairs in bioethics in around 40 countries. The country reports point out the most important discussions as well as the emerging topics in the field. Readers can orientate themselves quickly with regard to the various relevant issues, institutional structures and expertise available in these countries. The authorship of this reference work is truly global as it involves contributions from the best authors with innate knowledge of the bioethics situation in these countries.