Chapter 1. The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing: Innovations in International Environmental Law

This chapter examines Nagoya Protocol's innovations over the Conventionon Biological Diversity(CBD) and some of the contributions it makes to advancing international environmental law. It provides a short primer on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) and the CBD including the process leading to the adoption of the Protocol. The chapter reviews the Protocol's innovative provisions in relation to those of the CBD, highlighting how they respond to outstanding implementation challenges, and thereby advance international environmental lawaddressing ABS. It also examines some of the other international instruments and intergovernmentalprocesses influenced by the ABS concept and their relationship with the Protocol, and provide some thoughts on the way forward for the implementation of the Protocol. The ongoing work of the World Intellectual PropertyOrganisation (WIPO), particularly the IGC, is another forum whose work influenced the Protocol's negotiation and may be itself influenced by the Protocol. Keywords:access and benefit-sharing (ABS); Conventionon Biological Diversity(CBD); international environmental law; Nagoya Protocol; World Intellectual PropertyOrganisation (WIPO)