A rare primate being cared for at the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre of the Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - A newly effective bill, the government’s Decree No. 59/2017 onthe management of access to genetic resources and the sharing of their benefits(issued on May 12, 2017), is expected to protect the country’s rich geneticresources.
In1992, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre ranked Vietnam the 16th mostbiologically diverse country in the world, while the World Bank said “theentire country is included within Conservation International’s Indo-Burmahotspot, one of the earth’s richest and most threatened biological regions.”
NguyenDang Thu Cuc, head of the Division of Genetic Resources and BiosafetyManagement, under the Vietnam Environment Administration, said machinery andhuman capacity in the country remain limited, therefore genetic samples areusually sent abroad for analysis, and “this is a notable source of loss ofgenetic resources.”
Shecited the recent case of an American university’s 2016 finding what theyclaimed to be an “anti-cancer” agent in Cuc Phuong National Park during varioustrips held with Vietnam’s institutions in the 1990s.
“Thisis a lucky case, as they credited the source of the agent, whereas there areseveral other cases, where previously lax legal provisions allowed unscrupulousforeign parties to ‘steal’ genetic resources discovered in Vietnam to claim astheir own, and make profit from it, is that fair?,” Cuc said, during a workshopon Decree 59 in Hanoi on July 19.
Thedecree, years in the making, aims to remedy this situation by providing a“tighter protocol in granting access to national genetic resources to a foreignentity.”
Thecreators of the decree admitted that this is Vietnam’s first legal documentthat addresses in detail the country’s compliance to the 2010 Nagoya Protocolon the use of genetic resources, so there might be issues translating thedocument to reality.
Theseissues can be addressed in later revisions “as soon as every two years, insteadof the usual five-year-window” from experience gained in the implementationperiod, said Nguyen Van Tai, head of the Vietnam Environment Administration.
AssProf Dr Le Van Hung, from the Environment Department of the Hanoi-basedUniversity of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the current termrequiring that 30 percent of monetary benefits gained from using geneticresources from a provider shall be paid back to the provider is too high.
Hungsaid the international standard of 0.5-3 percent is appropriate, as long as asolid valuation mechanism is in place, since “in many cases, only much laterafter the genetic sample was collected, could it be utilised in a commercialproduct.”
Otherparticipants also voiced concerns over administrative paperwork, however,lawmakers responded that follow-up guiding documents would “iron out thewrinkles”, including an expedited mechanism for academic institutions workingwith international parties.
Acivil society representative said attention should also be focused on thecommunity aspect, namely “folk wisdom.”
Therepresentative cited the example of traditional medicine made from local herbsby ethnic groups in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, saying if apharmaceutical firm wants to commercialise such products, measures should be inplace to help the community "strike a fair deal with thosecompanies."
Decree59 defines the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as the “nationalfocal point” for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. Together with theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the two have the power to“grant, extend, or revoke access licences to genetic resources.”-VNA
In1992, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre ranked Vietnam the 16th mostbiologically diverse country in the world, while the World Bank said “theentire country is included within Conservation International’s Indo-Burmahotspot, one of the earth’s richest and most threatened biological regions.”
NguyenDang Thu Cuc, head of the Division of Genetic Resources and BiosafetyManagement, under the Vietnam Environment Administration, said machinery andhuman capacity in the country remain limited, therefore genetic samples areusually sent abroad for analysis, and “this is a notable source of loss ofgenetic resources.”
Shecited the recent case of an American university’s 2016 finding what theyclaimed to be an “anti-cancer” agent in Cuc Phuong National Park during varioustrips held with Vietnam’s institutions in the 1990s.
“Thisis a lucky case, as they credited the source of the agent, whereas there areseveral other cases, where previously lax legal provisions allowed unscrupulousforeign parties to ‘steal’ genetic resources discovered in Vietnam to claim astheir own, and make profit from it, is that fair?,” Cuc said, during a workshopon Decree 59 in Hanoi on July 19.
Thedecree, years in the making, aims to remedy this situation by providing a“tighter protocol in granting access to national genetic resources to a foreignentity.”
Thecreators of the decree admitted that this is Vietnam’s first legal documentthat addresses in detail the country’s compliance to the 2010 Nagoya Protocolon the use of genetic resources, so there might be issues translating thedocument to reality.
Theseissues can be addressed in later revisions “as soon as every two years, insteadof the usual five-year-window” from experience gained in the implementationperiod, said Nguyen Van Tai, head of the Vietnam Environment Administration.
AssProf Dr Le Van Hung, from the Environment Department of the Hanoi-basedUniversity of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the current termrequiring that 30 percent of monetary benefits gained from using geneticresources from a provider shall be paid back to the provider is too high.
Hungsaid the international standard of 0.5-3 percent is appropriate, as long as asolid valuation mechanism is in place, since “in many cases, only much laterafter the genetic sample was collected, could it be utilised in a commercialproduct.”
Otherparticipants also voiced concerns over administrative paperwork, however,lawmakers responded that follow-up guiding documents would “iron out thewrinkles”, including an expedited mechanism for academic institutions workingwith international parties.
Acivil society representative said attention should also be focused on thecommunity aspect, namely “folk wisdom.”
Therepresentative cited the example of traditional medicine made from local herbsby ethnic groups in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, saying if apharmaceutical firm wants to commercialise such products, measures should be inplace to help the community "strike a fair deal with thosecompanies."
Decree59 defines the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as the “nationalfocal point” for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. Together with theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the two have the power to“grant, extend, or revoke access licences to genetic resources.”-VNA
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