Dr Evanson Chege Kamau is senior researcher of the Research Centre for European Environmental Law (FEU) at the University of Bremen.

Professor Gerd Winter is Co-Director of the Research Centre for European Environmental Law (FEU) at the University of Bremen.

Introduction 1. Common Pools of Genetic Resources and Related Traditional and Modern Knowledge. An Overview Part 1: Local Approaches 2. Traditional Knowledge Common Pools: The Story of the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners of Bushbuckridge, South Africa 3. Common Pools of TK and Related Genetic Resources - A Case Study of San-Hoodia 4. Reinventing Traditional Medicine - Pacari and its Struggle Towards Health, Environmental Protection and Benefit Sharing 5. Guardians of the Seed: The Role of Andean Farmers in the Caring and Sharing of Agrobiodiveristy Part 2: National Approaches 6. Genetic Resources Common Pools in Brazil 7. Developing a Common Pools Strategy for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: A Case Study of Malaysia 8. Common Pools of Traditional Medical Knowledge in China 9. Common Pools in Aquaculture - Exploring Patent Law, ABS and Sui Generis Options Part 3: Transitional Approaches 10. Practices of Exchanging and Utilizing GRFA and the ABS Regime 11. Global Scientific Research Commons under the Nagoya Protocol: Governing Pools of Microbial Genetic Resources 12. Networks of Ex-Situ Collections in Genetic Resources 13. Biological Data Banks For Marine Organisms: What They Contain and How They Can Be Used in ABS Contexts 14. Knowledge Commons, Intellectual Property and the ABS Regime Part 4: International Approaches 15. ABS, Justice and the Nagoya Protocol 16. The World Health Organization's Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework as a Public Health Resources Pool 17. The Multilateral System of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources: Lessons and Space for Further Development 18. Exploring Bases for Building Common Pools in Eastern Africa 19. Common Pools for Marine Genetic Resources - A Possible Instrument for a Future Multilateral Agreement Addressing Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) strives for the sustainable and equitable utilization of genetic resources, with the ultimate goal of conserving biodiversity. The CBD and the Nagoya Protocol which has since been elaborated suggest a bilateral model for access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilization. There is concern that the bilateral exchange "genetic resource for benefit sharing" could have disappointing results because providers are left out of the process of research and development, benefits are difficult to be traced to sources, and providers owning the same resource may complain of being excluded from benefit sharing. Thus, the CBD objective of full utilization and equitability may become flawed.
Common Pools of Genetic Resources: Equity and Innovation in International Biodiversity Law suggests common pools as a complementary approach to bilateralism. This is one of the first books to reply to a number of complex legal questions related to the interpretation and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. Taking an inductive approach, it describes existing pools and analyzes how they are organized and how they perform in terms of joint R&D and benefit sharing. It presents case studies of the most characteristic types of common pools, provides suggestions for further developing existing pools to cope with the requirements of the CBD and NP and, at the same time uses the clauses these conventions contain to open up for commons approaches.
Written by a team of expert academics and practitioners in the field, this innovative book makes a timely and valuable contribution to academic and policy debates in international environmental law, international biodiversity law, intellectual property law, climate law and the law of indigenous populations.