Abstract ‘Genetic resources’ is a key concept of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol (NP). However, the term was coined to describe value in biodiversity and create an incentive for its protection and is thus of practical relevance for biological conservation beyond the legal context. The scope of this concept is also of interest to researchers, who may be unsure for which types of analysis they are legally and ethically expected to enter access and benefit sharing (ABS) negotiations. This article presents a biologically informed analysis, which leads to an understanding of ‘genetic resources’ that considers various associations and implications of this notion, such as its relation to biodiversity and the role that intellectual property rights (IPR) play in the discourse. The aim is to provide a coherent, consistent and comprehensive understanding of the concept that can integrate and explain these aspects and consider both classical and novel ways of using genetic resources. Based on the biological function of genetic resources and an analysis of how they are currently used and valued, this article argues that genetic resources are a particular type of natural resource that is informational rather than tangible. This interpretation clearly identifies utilising digital genomic sequences as a form of using genetic resources. However, the article also discusses regulatory exceptions for certain utilisations of genetic resources and it mentions the possibility of treating digital sequences as such an exception.

中文翻译：

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“遗传资源”，一个多方面概念的分析

摘要 “遗传资源”是《生物多样性公约》(CBD) 和《名古屋议定书》(NP) 的一个关键概念。然而，创造这个词是为了描述生物多样性的价值并为其保护创造激励，因此在法律范围之外对生物保护具有实际意义。这一概念的范围也引起了研究人员的兴趣，他们可能不确定在法律和道德上期望他们进入获取和惠益分享 (ABS) 谈判的哪种类型的分析。本文提出了一种生物学上知情的分析，它导致对“遗传资源”的理解，该分析考虑了该概念的各种关联和含义，例如其与生物多样性的关系以及知识产权 (IPR) 在话语中的作用。目的是提供一个连贯的、对概念的一致和全面理解可以整合和解释这些方面，并考虑使用遗传资源的经典和新方法。本文基于遗传资源的生物学功能和对其目前使用和价值的分析，认为遗传资源是一种特殊类型的自然资源，它是信息性的，而不是有形的。这种解释清楚地表明利用数字基因组序列是利用遗传资源的一种形式。然而，该文章还讨论了某些遗传资源利用的监管例外，并提到了将数字序列视为此类例外的可能性。