ICC welcomes Friends of the Cali Fund commitment to collaborate with private sector

The International Chamber of Commerce, representing businesses across sectors and regions, greatly appreciates the Friends of the Cali Fund initiative and its recent declaration and welcomes its recognition of the need for collaboration with the private sector to address barriers to implementation of the multilateral mechanism. Business stands ready to engage with the initiative and other Parties and stakeholders, to build the foundation and conditions necessary for a coherent, effective and workable multilateral benefit sharing mechanism that will meaningfully support biodiversity goals.

Business recognises the value of nature and the importance of its conservation and supports the principle of fair and equitable benefit sharing as a means to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.  The multilateral mechanism represents an opportunity to streamline, facilitate and increase the sharing of benefits arising from the use of publicly available digital sequence information. Collaboration between governments, the private sector and other stakeholders is required to fulfil its potential to contribute meaningfully towards biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

Joint efforts are needed to work towards a multilateral benefit sharing mechanism that is in alignment with paragraph 9 of CBD Decision 15/9 and is proportionate, provides businesses with clarity and legal certainty, avoids economic distortion, supports research and innovation and is part of a coherent benefit sharing landscape of aligned national and international instruments.

ICC looks forward to working with the Friends of the Cali Fund and other Parties and stakeholders on solutions and proposals to address remaining important conceptual, governance and practical implementation issues, so as to move towards a mechanism that is effective in contributing to biodiversity goals and is workable in practice for all concerned.