Countries from the Global South are railing against “biopiracy”: COP15 is seeing heated debate around the topic of “biopiracy” — where wealthy countries extract biological resources from the Global South, which they then use for medical, agricultural or industrial purposes for their own benefit, France24 reported on Friday.

What’s the problem? Tech developments like digital sequencing information (DSI), where genetic data from bioresources are digitized and stored online, are making it easier for big pharma companies to hoard income from products derived from biological material extracted from countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, some have argued, the media outlet notes.

It’s all leading to a stalemate around the COP15 common agreement: Countries from the Global South are reportedly saying they won’t agree to the global diversity framework, which is the goal of COP15, unless there are specific provisions for them to receive benefits from DSI, German researcher Amber Scholz is quoted by France24 as saying. But countries in the Global North are saying they won’t agree to an agreement on DSI if countries in the Global South don’t agree to the framework, Scholz adds.

Could a proposed tax on biodiversity-related products help? Before COP15, a group of African countries proposed a 1% tax be levied on the retail prices of all biodiversity-related products — in a move that Scholz terms “revolutionary,” France24 notes.

IN OTHER COP15 NEWS-

UNEP + partners launch three-year project to support cities in biodiversity work: UNEP has launched a new project designed to support cities in taking action on ecosystem restoration, according to a UNEP statement. The project — funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development — will run from 2023-2025 and aims to engage policymakers, businesses and financial institutions.

This comes after calls for more financing for ecosystem restoration projects. They want the global finance community and governments to reform financial infrastructure and work with the private sector in order to fund nature-based solutions that would halt and reverse nature loss. Until now, this kind of nature investment has gone to national governments, who then distribute it to cities, the statement notes.