생물다양성의 최근 동향과 향후전망 - 환경, 지적재산권, 전통지식 중심으로 -

Abstract

Simultaneous discussions on the conservation and commercial use of biodiversity are indispensible, because biodiversity itself comprises an essential part of the human environment, and people recognize potential economic value in genetic resources. These days, interest in sustainable conservation and the development of biodiversity has been heightened due to the dilemma of how to stably secure food, energy, and biological genetic resources at the national security level. This article deals with the significance of sustainable biodiversity in relation to environment conservation and economic growth, as well as trends and prospects regarding biodiversity, focusing on the twelfth and thirteenth sessions of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge and Folklore(the “IGC”). The IGC is categorized into three different agenda items: (i) source disclosure requirements and alternative suggestions regarding the relationship between intellectual property rights and genetic resources; (ii) the interface between patent systems and genetic resources; and (iii) intellectual property aspects of access and benefit‐sharing, and other contracts on genetic resources. Discussions on source disclosure requirements focus on a defensive system to prevent the unjust granting of patent rights, accompanied by technical measures to improve search tools for better prior art searches on disclosed genetic resources. The debate on the interface between patent systems and genetic resources highlights how to potentially incorporate new or expanded source disclosure requirements into existing patent systems, or multilateral alterative measures. A vital means for the equitable sharing of benefits generated by the commercial use of genetic resources is through mutually‐agreed conditions, and such sharing should be made between the provider and user of genetic resources in order to secure fair access to same. The latest Intellectual Property Rights Draft Guidelines on Access and Equitable Benefits Sharing reconfirms that continuing or further WIPO IGC‐related work must be conducted in such a way as to support, and not prejudice, the work of other fora such as the CBD, CGIAR, FAO and UNEP. A promising solution for the biodiversity conservation and benefits sharing dilemma arising from the global use of biodiversity is to clarify the relationship between the TRIPs Agreement and the CBD. Another solution is to explore the appropriate level of benefits sharing by clarifying the relationship between source disclosure requirements and access to, and benefits‐sharing of, genetic resources. For sustainability of biodiversity, it is necessary for governments to establish law and policies–however complex–which consider the environmental and economic aspects of biodiversity. A composite approach to biodiversity conservation and the economic use of biodiversity is required to compensate the actual and potential value of biodiversity; namely, international cooperation for the conservation of biological genetic resources which do not have economic value, and an improved or new regulatory system for the commercial use of biological genetic resources which do have economic value.