Nagoya Protocol

Last July, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity continued their negotiations on the implementation of the multilateral mechanism for the sharing of benefits arising from DSI, of which the Cali Fund is the main financial instrument. The discussions resulted in a recommendation ahead of COP17, to be held in late October in Yerevan (Armenia). The crucial issue of defining DSI was not on the agenda. Talks are therefore continuing without any clarity on exactly what they are addressing, which suggests that their conclusions will be applied in a piecemeal manner.

In the United States, a legal battle between two seed companies, Corteva and Inari, has highlighted a contradiction in the patent system. Whilst intended to encourage innovation in exchange for the disclosure of inventions, patents can also complicate access to the biological material needed for research and the creation of new varieties. In May 2026, the US Department of Justice intervened to highlight the competition and innovation issues linked to access to patented seeds. However, the dispute will not proceed to trial, as the companies signed an out-of-court settlement on 27 September 2026, the main terms of which remain confidential. A missed opportunity to obtain judicial clarification on the use of patented biological material by a third party.

This autumn, governments, businesses, Indigenous communities and other representatives of civil society are to meet in Yerevan (Armenia) to discuss the protection of terrestrial and marine biodiversity. As more and more genetic components of this biodiversity are being digitised, multinational corporations want to seize the opportunity to exploit the benefit-sharing fund for the use of DSI, known as the “Cali Fund”. Their demands? To reduce the amount of the contributions and the ability of states to decide on national measures, and to widen the loopholes allowing them to bypass prior consent for the use of living organisms that make up biodiversity.

Adopted at the COP16 on biodiversity in November 2024, the Cali Fund was officially launched on 25 February 2025. Its aim is to collect a share of the revenue generated by the use of digital sequence information (DSI), which is predominantly exploited by industries in the Global North and identified in biological resources that very often originate from the Global South. The fund’s promise is to ensure the sharing of benefits arising from the use of this DSI, which in particular fuels numerous patent applications. But one year after its launch, the fund remains largely ignored by the main users of DSI.

For some times now, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is discussing an expansion of its scope to all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Many stakeholders and observers are fearing this would end up in legitimizing biopiracy. As the next meeting will occur in Lima (Peru) starting in November, the 24th, Inf’OGM publishes the analysis of Nithin Ramakrishnan, from Third World Network, one of the stakeholders of this meeting.