G7-Elmau-Progress-Report-2015-Biodiversity-A-vital-foundation-for-sustainable-development

G7 ELMAU PROGRESS REPORT 57Example 4.27 Giving sustainable whale watching a national scope in Madagascar (France)Supported by the French government, this project is a follow-up to a “Small Scale Initiatives Program” grantin 2006 to the French association MEGAPTERA, resulting in the creation of the Association for the Protectionof Marine Mammals around Madagascar (CETAMADA), which is responsible for developing whale watching on the islandof Sainte Marie. Pursuing its initial work, the association is extending its activities to the national level by supportingthe development and promotion of sustainable Madagascan whale ecotourism, which will benefit many organizationsand local communities (starting with the towns of Tuléar and Nosy be). New local operators are trained in responsiblewhale watching according to a code of good practice and security at sea in order to disturb the marine mammals aslittle as possible. In addition, Madagascan students, assisted by European eco-volunteers, are trained in whale monitoringin order to develop these skills at the national level.http://www.ffem.fr/jahia/webdav/site/ffem/shared/ELEMENTS_COMMUNS/U_ADMINISTRATEUR/6-PPI/publication2012/2012-PPI_plaquette-fichesUK.pdf4.4.4 Improving access to genetic resourcesand benefit-sharingFor centuries, societies across the globe have transferredand traded biological resources. In doing so, they havesometimes drawn from traditional knowledge related tousing those resources. Today, industries such as pharmaceuticals,cosmetics, as well as plant and animal breeding maysearch globally for genetic resources to develop or enhancetheir products, and academics seek access to genetic resourcesto better understand the biodiversity on this planet.The third objective of the CBD aims at ensuring a fair andequitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilizationof genetic resources, thus creating an incentive for conservationand sustainable use for providers of genetic resourcesand associated traditional knowledge. The CBDestablishes clear principles on how to address this issue.Its Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and theFair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from theirUtilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity enteredinto force on October 12, 2014. It establishes mechanismsto i) provide more legal certainty to users of geneticKyrgyzstan. Alex Lovegrove (Darwin Initiative)