: Innovation and Diversity Over the long period of time that life has existed on

Question

: Innovation and Diversity Over the long period of time that life has existed on Earth, there have been a number of important or significant innovations including (but not limited to) endosymbiosis to create mitochondria and chloroplasts; multicellularity; adaptation to land by plants and animals; development of exoskeletons in arthropods, shells in molluscs, and notochords followed by vertebral columns in chordates and vertebrates; and bipedalism in the ancestry of humans. All of these had to come about by natural selection in response to changing environmental forces. Pick one of these significant innovations and describe: a. How the innovation appears to have happened b. What environmental challenges were met and overcome by this innovation, and c. What opportunities were opened for the organism that made this innovation. Be prepared to discuss the general concept of innovation and opportunity in response to selective challenges in life and how this can greatly increase biodiversity over time.

Explanation / Answer

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which entered into force in 1993, contains innovative and far-reaching provisions on traditional knowledge. The Convention states that: ‘Each contracting Party shall, as far as possible and as appropriate […] (j) Subject to national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge innovations and practices’ - Article 8(j). This is the first time that a binding international instrument has acknowledged the relevance of traditional knowledge to the resolution of global problems and has placed an obligation on governments to respect, preserve and maintain it. Parties are also required to ‘protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation and sustainable use requirements’ (Article 10(c)); ‘facilitate the exchange of information relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity [including] indigenous and traditional knowledge’ (Article 17); and ‘encourage and develop methods of cooperation for the development and use of technologies, including indigenous and traditional technologies ..’ (Article 18.4). These provisions are intimately connected to the third objective of the CBD: ‘the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies…’ (Article 1). Implementation of these provisions on access to genetic resources and equitable benefit-sharing (ABS) and on traditional knowledge are both core issues in the CBD process. The Conference of the Parties to the CBD has established two inter-sessional bodies: a Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions and a Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing.

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