In 2010, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (access and benefit-sharing, or ABS).1 Nagoya Protocol adoption resulted from a long set of negotiations on the making of an international ABS regime, triggered by a situation of distributive injustice: countries using genetic resources reap most of the benefits, while the costs related to the conservation and protection of these same resources are mainly carried by provider countries. Through the establishment of an international ABS regime, benefits and burdens arising from the use of genetic resources should thus be shared fairly between user and provider countries.
Based on principles of distributive justice,2 the notion of fair and equitable sharing raises two well-documented issues. First, theories of distributive justice are ill suited to the study of the underlying...