Notice of Public Meeting Concerning the Use of Digital Sequence Information of Generic Resources
Digital Sequence Meeting comments CBD Water conservation
2020-03-05 2020-03-05
DOS-2020-0005-0004 DOS-2020-0005-0002
05:00:00 05:00:00
https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DOS-2020-0005-0004 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/DOS-2020-0005-0002
John Anonymous
Longino Anonymous
Digital images and DNA sequence data on the worlds biodiversity are currently tracked by the traditional methods of scientific literature. In almost all academic research there is no direct monetary gain (in fact, most researchers pay to have their work published) and benefit sharing is implicit in the generally available distribution platforms. Any additional regulatory requirements for tracking and benefit sharing would discourage and impede biodiversity research. International collaborations would falter, conservation efforts would lose followers and momentum. I study insect diversity throughout the Neotropics. My work has been welcome to collaborators in over a dozen countries, improving knowledge of their biodiversity and helping to identify regions of high endemism. Additional administrative requirements of tracking and benefit sharing would either make this kind of work too difficult to contemplate, or at least greatly reduce the amount of work that could be done. The goals of tracking and benefit sharing are laudable when it comes to prominent commercial products, but regulators should be aware of the impacts on the extensive community of biodiversity scientists. These scientists have dedicated their lives to a vision of global biodiversity knowledge, and with on-going planetary change there is an urgency to their work. Any process that hinders the rapid description of the worlds biota will do more harm than good. As a biologist generating and analyzing genetic sequence information, I encounter two main threats to free sharing of digital sequence information.  One is the possibility of companies deciding to claim the information as proprietary; the other is for governments to decide that it is proprietary to a country.  However, most of the data that I work with is not marketable.  Instead, it helps give a better picture of the biological diversity and the relationships among organisms.  In turn, these data enable better stewardship of natural resources and may point the way towards finding commercial applications, but the data themselves are not directly of commercial value.   Therefore, I would support promoting free exchange of data and programs to decrease bureaucratic barriers to scientific research, while recognizing the importance of rules to promote sharing any eventual profits with native communities and restrictions on data about potential biological weapons.  