Participative Decision Making and the Sharing of Benefits: Laws, ethics, and data protection for building extended global communities

Transdisciplinary and cross-cultural cooperation and collaboration are needed to build extended, densely interconnected information resources. These are the prerequisites for the successful implementation and execution of, for example, an ambitious monitoring framework accompanying the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD; SCBD 2021). Data infrastructures that meet the requirements and preferences of concerned communities can focus and attract community involvement, thereby promoting participatory decision making and the sharing of benefits. Community acceptance, in turn, drives the development of the data resources and data use. Earlier this year, the alliance for biodiversity knowledge (2021a) conducted forum-based consultations seeking community input on designing the next generation of digital specimen representations and consequently enhanced infrastructures. The multitudes of connections that arise from extending the digital specimen representations through linkages in all “directions” will form a powerful network of information for research and application. Yet, with the power of an extended, accessible data network comes the responsibility to protect sensitive information (e.g., the locations of threatened populations, culturally context-sensitive traditional knowledge, or businesses’ fundamental data and infrastructure assets). In addition, existing legislation regulates access and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits. Current negotiations on ‘Digital Sequence Information’ under the CBD suggest such obligations might increase and become more complex in the context of extensible information networks. For example, in the case of data and resources funded by taxpayers in the EU, such access should follow the general principle of being “as open as possible; as closed as is legally necessary” (cp. EC 2016). At the same time, the international regulations of the CBD Nagoya Protocol (SCBD 2011) need to be taken into account. Summarizing main outcomes from the consultation discussions in the forum thread “Meeting legal/regulatory, ethical and sensitive data obligations” (alliance for biodiversity knowledge 2021b), we propose a framework of ten guidelines and functionalities to achieve community building and drive application: Substantially contribute to the conservation and protection of biodiversity (cp. EC 2020). Use language that is CBD conformant. Show the importance of the digital and exte