Global Governance in der Biodiversitätspolitik

Today the world is faced with an unprecedented loss§of biodiversity which evokes new ecological,§economical and socio-cultural problems. At the same§time plant genetic resources and indigenous§biomedical knowledge awake the interest of the life§science industry. In 1992 the United Nations§Organization adopted the Convention on Biological§Diversity (CBD) to protect biodiversity and§traditional knowledge. With its visionary principles,§the CBD could become a model case for Global§Governance in the 21st century. Global Governance is§a process to manage collective affairs by a variety§of actors on a global, national and local level in a§complex of formal institutions and informal§agreements. This concept is a reflection of the§growing despair over the mismatch between the§over-development of the economic globalization and§the under-development of a comparable global policy.§In this book the author analyzes the CBD and the§commercial use of plant genetic resources to point§out existing Global Governance structures. The author§provides a review of selected case studies to§highlight the question of the effectiveness of Global§Governance mechanisms in today''s biodiversity politics.