We, the undersigned organizations and individuals,
diverse representatives of the global researchcommunity, recognize that this is a critical moment for
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Outcomesof the CBD Conference of the Parties in 2022 (COP 15)
will shape the use of and access to Digital Sequence
Information (DSI) for decades to come.
Open access to DSI and related data are importantelements in any policy solution, as DSI has enabled
ground-breaking advances in many fields of researchand underpins the generation of knowledge andcommon goods that benefit us all.

●Listen to calls from theWhy
scientific community for
Multilateral?
multilateralbenefitsharing approaches thatincentivize the generationand contribution of DSI to the global system.

●Ensure that the outcomes of these negotiations
reflect the reality of the scientific process andaccount for the thousands of interlinked databasesthat currently serve billions of sequences to millions
of users around the world.

●

Support open access toDSI. Open access drives
Why Open?
research and innovation,
improves
scientificreproducibility, enables
rapid responses to public health crises, facilitates
capacity building and international collaborations,and promotes training and education.

●Learn from the experience of the Nagoya Protocol
and other treaties and avoid new systems for DSI
that would increase regulatory complexity and costsof research, disproportionately affecting developing
countries where resources are particularly scarce.

At the same time, we recognize the sovereign right ofnations over their natural resources, including their
genetic resources, and the role and interests ofindigenous peoples and local communities. Sensible
solutions must be found that ensure fair and equitablebenefit sharing from DSI.
We acknowledge the challenge that policymakers face infinding suitable compromises on this important issue.
We believe that researchers who work with DSI canmake an important contribution to the effort bycountries to weigh the advantages and disadvantages ofdifferent policy options, and thereby aid thedevelopment of a fair and equitable system that will
deliver benefit-sharing while protecting open access,supporting research and innovation, and promoting
biodiversity conservation.

We, therefore, call on Parties to the CBD to:●Ensure that researchers are given a voice in theprocess of developing national positions, in theweighing of DSI options, and in formal and informal
CBD processes.

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A balanced approach must be found that protects
openness and ensures benefit sharing if we wish toachieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals andimplement the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity
Framework. Without an open and equitable solution toDSI, the scientific community will be hindered in its
ability to conduct research and develop solutions for
current environmental and health crises.

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BackgroundIn March 2022, negotiations on Digital SequenceInformation (DSI) and benefit sharing will resume among
Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity as they work
to reach agreement on the new Post-2020 Global
Biodiversity Framework, which sets new goals and aims
to transform society’s relationship with biodiversity.
The scientific community is the primary generator anduser of DSI. The outcome of these negotiations will
therefore shape our ability to use DSI and generate
research that helps move forward sustainable
development, protect biodiversity and address global
health crises. Given the importance of DSI to our work,
it is essential that our perspectives, expertise andexperience be included in considerations of different
approaches to benefit sharing for DSI.
DSI is used by researchers in a wide of contexts including
for studying and monitoring biodiversity, understanding
ecosystem impacts from climate change, improving
crops, developing new medicines, and tracking thespread and evolution of new infectious diseases. Accessto DSI is therefore crucial to research supporting manyof the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
A wide range of organizations and experts have calledfor DSI policy solutions that provide equitable benefitsharing through multilateral mechanisms that protect
open access DSI.

Why Multilateral?
“Multilateral” refers to policy solutions where access andbenefit sharing for DSI would be facilitated by a set ofcommon rules agreed to by all CBD Parties. Multilateralmechanisms are favored by many scientificorganizations and other stakeholders, because DSI isalready shared around the world through a complex
network of databases and scientific collaborations.
Common rules are therefore needed so that scientists

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and databases around the world can continue togenerate and share knowledge effectively.
Members of the DSI Scientific Network recently
published a paper outlining a multilateral policy
mechanism for DSI that would ensure a “win-win”
solution that balances open access with benefit sharing.
This work expands on a set of key principles previously
presented by the Network in a policy position submitted
to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in
response to a call for input from governments and otherorganizations (CBD/WG2020/3/4). Other research anddevelopment organizations have made similar
submissions supporting multilateral approaches,
including the Wellcome-Sanger Institute, Argentine
researchers, several European research organizations,
CGIAR and others.

Why Open?
The sequencing community’s tradition of open sharing
has immeasurable benefits for research, biodiversity
conservation and the bioeconomy, and is a central partof the growing open science movement. Theinternational trend toward open science, and its many
benefits, are clearly recognized in the recently adopted
UNESCO Open Science Recommendation.
DSI is shared openly through a series of linked databases
comprising the International Nucleotide Sequence
Database Collaboration (INSDC). These databases
currently contain more than 228 million annotatedsequences, and serve many millions of unique users
each year. A complex ecosystem of other databases andanalysis tools depend on these core resources, and areused by scientists throughout modern biology,biodiversity and medical research. DSI in public
databases are used by researchers in all countries.

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Further Resources

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

Submission by Wellcome Sanger InstituteSubmission by the DSI Scientific Network
Submission by members of the Argentinianscientific community
Submission by the Leibniz InstituteSubmission by EMBL-EBI on behalf of INSDC
Joint submission by DNFS, VBIO and Leibniz
Biodiversitaet
Submission by the Global Plant Council
Submission by CGIAR●Ebenezer TE, Muigai AWT, Nouala S, Badaoui B,Blaxter M, Buddie AG, et al. Africa: sequence
100,000 species to safeguard biodiversity. Nature
https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00712-4 (2022).

●Scholz AH, Freitag J, Lyal CHC, Sara R, Cepeda ML,Cancio I, et al. Multilateral benefit-sharing fromdigital sequence information will support bothscience and biodiversity conservation. Nature
Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467022-28594-0 (2022).

dsiscientificnetwork.org●Lawson C. Regulating Information in Molecules:
The Convention on Biological Diversity and Digital
Sequence Information. Law, Technology andHumans https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2208 (2022).

●Bagley, MA. "Just" Sharing: The Virtues of Digital
Sequence Information Benefit-Sharing for theCommon Good. in press Harvard International Law
Journal (2022). Preprint available at SSRN:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3985083●Aubry S, Frison C, Medaglia JC, Frison E, Jaspars M,Rabone M, et al. Bringing access and benefit sharing
into the digital age. PLANTS PEOPLE PLANET
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10186 (2022).

●Scholz AH, Lange M, Habekost P, Oldham P, Cancio
I, Cochrane G, et al. Myth-busting the provider-user
relationship for digital sequence information.
GigaScience,https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giab085 (2021).

●Laird S, Wynberg R, Rourke M, Humphries F, Muller
MR, Lawson C. Rethink the expansion of access andbenefit sharing. Science
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9609 (2020).

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Information on signatory organizations

The DSI Scientific Network is a member-led
organization, created in 2020, to help give the researchcommunity a voice in ongoing international policy
discussions on digital sequence information (DSI). The
Network’s mission is to contribute to policymakers’ andother stakeholders’ understanding of DSI, its
applications and its contributions to research,biodiversity conservation and public health.
The Earth BioGenome Project is a global network
aiming to sequence, catalog and characterize thegenomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic biodiversity over a
period of ten years.
The Wellcome Sanger Institute is a world leading
genomics research centre. It undertakes large-scale
research that forms the foundations of knowledge inbiology and medicine. Its findings are used to improvehealth and to understand life on Earth.
The Global Plant Council is a coalition of organizations
representing the plant, crop, agricultural andenvironmental sciences across the globe. It aims topromote plant science across borders and disciplines.
The World Federation of Culture Collections is aFederation within the International Union ofMicrobiological Societies (IUMS). It is concerned with thecollection, authentication, maintenance and distributionof cultures of microorganisms and cultured cells.
The African Biogenome Project is a coordinated panAfrican effort to build capacity and infrastructure for thegeneration, analysis and deployment of genomics data
for the improvement and sustainable use of biodiversity
and agriculture across Africa.
The International Barcode of Life (iBOL) is a
consortium of research organizations in 40 nations. Its
mission is focused on registering all multicellular species
and activating a global biosurveillance system before
mid-century. To achieve these goals, its member
organizations operate core facilities to gather sequencedsiscientificnetwork.org

data and develop informatics platforms to curate andanalyze the resultant data.
The Bird 10,000 Genomes Project (B10K) is an initiative
to generate representative draft genome sequencesfrom all extant bird species.
The Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Healthsupports programs that improve livestock-based
livelihoods in the tropics. It is a strategic alliance of theInternational Livestock Research Institute, the Roslin
Institute at the University of Edinburgh, and Scotland’s
Rural College.
The Tara Ocean Foundation is developing innovativeand original open ocean science. It uses scientificexpertise to raise awareness and educate young people
and the public in general, to mobilize political decision
makers at the highest level and to enable developing
countries to access this new knowledge about theOcean.
The Global Biodata Coalition is a forum for research
funders to better coordinate and share approaches forthe efficient management and growth of biodata
resources worldwide. It aims to stabilize and ensuresustainable financial support for the global biodata
infrastructure.
The Global Genome Biodiversity Network aims tofoster collaborations among biodiversity repositories inorder to ensure quality standards, improve bestpractices, secure interoperability, and harmonize
exchange of material in accordance with national andinternational legislation and conventions.
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is
an intergovernmental research organization funded byover 20 member states. It maintains the world’s mostcomprehensive range of freely available and up-to-datemolecular data resources.

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The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green
Development Foundation (CBCGDF) is a non-profit
public foundation and a social legal entity dedicated tobiodiversity conservation and green development.

The European Virus Archive (EVAg) is an internationalgroup of 25 laboratories, including 16 EU member
state institutions and 9 non-EU institutions, that
represent an extensive range of virological disciplines.
The LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity
Genomics sequences genomes across the tree of life
to study the genetic basis of biological diversity and to
make the data accessible for addressing societal
knowledge demands.
Created in 1666, the French Académie des sciences is
an independent assembly of scientists that conducts
reflections on the political, ethical and societal issues
raised by current and future scientific questions. Its
work aims to provide a framework of expertise, advice
and warning, on which public policies can be based,
and more broadly to enlighten the debates andchoices of our society.
China National GeneBank (CNGB) is a world leading

integrated research infrastructure which has thecapacity for preserving plant, animal, microbial andhuman samples. In addition, its high-throughput
sequencing center generates petabytes of genomic
data annually. Last, its scientific database (CNGBdb)
helps researchers to easily archive and analyze
genetic data.
The French Alliance for Environmental Research(AllEnvi) pools and promotes the whole expertise ofFrench public research organizations, universities andgrandes écoles, with a community of nearly 20,000
scientists, with the aim of identifying the futurechallenges and research priorities in the field ofEnvironmental Sciences. AllEnvi gathers multiple
types of expertise, hence ensuring a systemic,transverse,
multidisciplinary
approachtodsiscientificnetwork.org

environmental issues in regard of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
The European Culture Collections’ Organisation(ECCO) was established in 1981. The aim of theorganisation is to promote collaboration andexchange of ideas and information about all aspectsof culture collection activity. ECCO meetings are held
annually as a forum for discussion and innovation on
the future development of member collection
activities.
As the core research and development institute of BGIGroup, BGI-Research aims to promote study of thelife sciences, and the development of biotechnology
and human health. It carries out research on key andcutting-edge issues in technology and science, andparticipates in many international genome projects.
The 10,000 Plant Genomes Project (tenKP or 10KP)
aims to sequence over 10,000 genomes representing
every major clade of plants and eukaryotic microbes.
It is a genome project led by BGI-Research and China
National Gene Bank (CNGB), with global collaborative
efforts to assemble plant genomes and share theplant genome data.
The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant
Research (IPK) is a non-profit foundation and memberof the Leibniz Association, dedicated to basic andapplication-oriented research on crop plants. The
institute hosts one of the world's largest collections ofplant germplasm, and conducts research directed
towards an efficient and sustainable supply of food,energy and raw materials and thus towards meeting
global challenges.
The Verband Botanisher Gärten represents more than
90 botanical gardens in Germany and neighboring
countries, and is one of the largest conglomerates ofbotanical living collections worldwide. The Verband isactive in conservation, public outreach, collection
management and exchange, and thus has a serious
interest in ensuring that its members' collections
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remain useful for research, conservation anddevelopment.
The BiodivOc Key Challenge, financed by theOccitanie regional council, aims to develop research
projects that explore the dynamics, resilience andmanagement of biodiversity and ecosystems subject
to human-induced environmental pressures.
The Scientific Board of the French National Centre for
Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Scientific Board of
the Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE)The National Institute of Genetics (NIG) is a research
institute for genetics and life sciences under theResearch Organization of Information and Systems(ROIS). NIG is located in Mishima City, Shizuoka
Prefecture, Japan.
The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) at the NIG
captures, preserves, and presents nucleotide
sequence information as a founding member of theInternational Nucleotide Sequence Database
Collaboration (INSDC).

ensure the consistency of the CNRS' and INEE's
scientific policies in coordination with other national
scientific advisory bodies and the institutes' directors.
The CNRS is a world-leading interdisciplinary publicresearch organisation, whose scientists explore theliving world, matter, the Universe, and the functioningof human societies in order to meet the major
challenges of today and tomorrow. The Institute ofEcology and Environment (INEE) is a member instituteof the CNRS whose mission is to develop andcoordinate research in the fields of ecology and theenvironment, including biodiversity and humanenvironment interactions.
The European Marine Biological Resource Centre(EMBRC) is a research infrastructure within theEuropean Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures(ESFRI), operating under the status of a European
Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). It
provides access to marine resources, cutting-edge
services, and facilities that allow researchers, fromboth academia and industry to study life in the oceanand develop innovative solutions to tackle societal
issues.
The Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences is a national
public corporation dedicated to the study andresearch of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biologyand geology, and their applications, as well as theirpromotion for the benefit of the society.

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