At this month's ERGA Plenary meeting (Monday, December 16 at 15:00 CET) we will hear from Amber Hartman Scholz about the outcomes of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) that took place last October in Cali, Colombia and the consequences of the latest DSI decision for “real-world” scientists, database managers, and users of sequence data. The session will be moderated by Camila Mazzoni.
Abstract
What happened at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) on Digital Sequence Information? Can I still use open public genetic sequence data?
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ Science Policy and Internalization Department is actively engaged in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity as an academic stakeholder. At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia in October 2024 and, indeed, for the past several years, we have closely followed negotiations on digital sequence information (DSI) and access and benefit-sharing. While the COP15 decision on DSI in 2022 was encouraging because it moved towards a multilateral benefit-sharing (unlike the Nagoya Protocol), no details on how the mechanism would work were decided. The recent COP16 DSI decision operationalizes this new benefit-sharing mechanism and creates new financial obligations and requirements for databases. The talk will explain what the DSI decision means for “real-world” scientists, database managers, and users of sequence data. And, in parallel, show what science policy work entails and what is happening on the ground during UN negotiations.
Speaker's Bio - Amber Hartman Scholz
Dr. Amber Hartman Scholz is a microbiologist and Head of the Science Policy & Internationalization Department at the Leibniz Institute DSMZ in Braunschweig, Germany. She leads projects on international science policy especially on access and benefit sharing and digital sequence information. She led the DSMZ’s implementation to become a Registered Collection under the EU’s Nagoya Protocol regulation (511/2014) and co-founded both the DSI Scientific Network and German Nagoya Protocol Hub. She held previous science policy posts in the US Federal and California state governments including at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy.
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