Equitable Sharing

Equitable Sharing: Distributing the Benefits and Detriments of Democratic Society argues that a principle of equitable sharing—one that requires the benefits and detriments of social life to be fairly distributed among all members of society—is fundamental to the concept of democracy and is implicit in the founding documents of the democratic society the United State purports to be. To illustrate the centrality of equitable sharing to democracy, this book examines the political philosophies of John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls. Locke’s libertarianism, Mill’s utilitarianism, and Rawls’ egalitarianism represent major strains of Western democratic theory, and all contain a principle of equitable sharing in some form. To illustrate the centrality of equitable sharing to U.S. society, the book examines the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. While these documents do not set forth a particular version of equitable sharing, they contain elements of all of Locke’s, Mill’s and Rawls’ philosophies and evidence a commitment to equitable sharing as fundamental to the democratic society they contemplate. The task of U.S. society throughout its existence has been to engage in an on-going dialogue that gives life to the commitment to equitable sharing set forth in its founding documents. As the elected representatives of the people and the repository of the powers through which to implement much of what equitable sharing requires, the primary responsibility for implementation rests with the legislative branch. This book argues that the Supreme Court, interacting with the public and the legislature, also has a meaningful role to play in the dialogue over the requirements of equitable sharing and can play this role in a manner consistent with democratic principles. This point is illustrated through a discussion of several contemporary issues: same sex marriage, racial integration in public schools, health care, and the regulation of the electoral process.

The 6th session of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources requested that IPGRI study the feasibility of possible systems for the exchange of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)1 and the equitable sharing of benefits. The following report is the result of that study. It seeks to provide the Commission with a set of options and their implications and thus to inform international negotiationsconncerning the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Tesources. As part of the study process a wide series of consultations was held with major stakeholder groups. A fundamental justification for conserving and characterizing PGRFA is their potential for use in the development of improved crop varieties. These improved varieties are necessary to meet the food needs of a growing population and the demands of changing agro-ecological and social conditions.

Fair and equitable benefit-sharing is a diffuse legal phenomenon in international law. The continued proliferation of benefit-sharing clauses can be explained by their appeal as an optimistic frame in addressing sustainability and equity concerns related to bio-based innovation, the use of natural resources, environmental protection, and knowledge creation. In principle, fair and equitable benefit-sharing serves to recognize, encourage, and incentivise sustainable human relationships with the environment by focusing on equity issues arising from the most intractable challenges of our time, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, poverty, and global epidemics. Empirical evidence, however, indicates that, in practice, benefit-sharing rarely achieves its fairness and equity objectives, and ends up entrenching or worsening inequitable relationships with little to no benefit for the environment. Instead of focusing on fair and equitable benefit-sharing in sub-specialist areas of international law in isolation, Elisa Morgera assesses the phenomenon from a general international law perspective and through comparison-across international environmental law, international human rights law, international health law, and the law of the sea. Strengthened by insights from local-level case studies in different regions and sectors, this book looks toward overcoming the limitations inherent in individual international regimes and addressing the shortcomings in benefit-sharing implementation. Morgera's topical and comprehensive analysis reveals opportunities to advance fairness and equity in benefit-sharing through a mutually supportive interpretation of international biodiversity law and international human rights law, as well as opportunities to contribute to future research in areas such as international health law, international law on outer space, and international economic law. This is an open access title. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform.

Identifies and describes specific government assistance opportunities such as loans, grants, counseling, and procurement contracts available under many agencies and programs.

Volume VI is the sixth substantive volume to be published in the series. It deals with the work of the First Committee at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, namely the international seabed area. The volume thus embraces the deep seabed mining regime set out in Part XI of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea together with the 1994 Agreement on its implementation. Completion of this commentary was delayed first by the consultations and negotiations that commenced in 1990 and led to the 1994 Agreement and the entry into force of the Convention. It was further delayed until the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority approved the detailed mining regulations in 2000. Additional supplementary material can be found at UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Documents.