Access and Benefit Sharing

Hon.Mr Francis Nyenze, then Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Dr Helida Oyike, National Museums, Kenya, signing the ABSA with Prof. Peter Crane, former Director of Kew.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is determined to honour the letter and spirit of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It recognises the sovereign rights of states over their own biological resources and the authority of national governments to determine access to genetic resources, subject to national legislation. It also acknowledges the interests of other stakeholders, including indigenous and local communities and farmers, in biological resources and associated information. This means that Prior Informed Consent (PIC) is obtained from appropriate authorities and stakeholders, according to national legislation, before any seed collections are made and before duplicate seed is transferred to RBG Kew.

RBG Kew is also actively promoting the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, their progeny and derivatives with the country that provided the genetic resource, and with other stakeholders as appropriate. Each project partnership is based on a legally binding Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement between RBG Kew and the partner institute and/or government. Although the benefits from the MSBP project partnerships will usually be botanical collections, associated data, seed banking expertise, staff training and other forms of capacity building, these issues are particularly pertinent in the context of possible commercialisation of genetic resources and their derivatives. As an academic institute, RBG Kew is unlikely to be involved in commercial activities related to genetic resources. In all cases, the Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement forbids any commercial use by RBG Kew of the genetic resources transferred to it.