A critical assessment of the implementation and governance of the access and benefit-sharing policies in Brazil

Abstract

This article presents the history of the ABS policy in Brazil, focusing on the role of CGen. The objective of the research is to show how changes in the interactions between government, business, academia, and policy beneficiaries have altered the policy's outcomes over time, especially after the implementation of Law n.13123 in 2015, which established new guidance on the subject. The methodology is composed of the analysis of CGen management reports, available between 2003 and 2015, and the minutes of all council meetings held between 2016 and 2019, plus interviews with eleven members of CGen. The analysis indicates that the claim and mobilization of different social sectors drove the changes that occurred over time in the composition of CGen. The inclusion of users (productive sector) and beneficiaries (traditional and indigenous communities) of the policy in CGen composition, nevertheless, has not helped to increase the effectiveness of the policy in terms of benefit-sharing.