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Environment

COP15: Countries debate how to share profits from Earth’s genetic data

The question of how best to share revenues from products developed using genetic data from plants, animals and microbes has emerged as a make-or-break issue at COP15

By James Dinneen

15 December 2022

Police officers walk past a sign as they patrol outside the Palais de Congres, during the opening of COP15, the two-week U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi - RC2H0Y92YQSE

Nearly all the countries in the world are meeting in Montreal for the COP15 biodiversity summit

CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters

Countries at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal are moving closer to an agreement on how to share profits from products developed using genetic data collected from Earth’s biodiversity. It is a make-or-break issue for countries to reach a wider deal on protecting nature.

The goal of the summit is to agree on a global plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss over the next decade. But that agreement hinges on several parallel negotiations. One of the key issues is…

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