skip to Main Content

The international governance of gene drive organisms

Florian Rabitz (2021) The international governance of gene drive organisms, Environmental Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2021.1959756

Abstract

Gene Drive Organisms (GDOs) are a proposed biotechnological intervention that might generate significant benefits for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity while also raising critical biosafety issues. Despite their inevitable transboundary effects, their implications for international institutions remain undertheorized. This text develops a theoretical analysis of international GDO governance. First, it elaborates the problem-structural characteristics of GDOs that turn them into a novel and distinct governance challenge, focusing on leverage, cost-benefit distributions, irreversibility, as well as uncertainty and unpredictability. Second, it derives the implications of problem structure for institutional design by focusing on pre-release risk assessment and authorization, as well as post-release monitoring and liability. Third, it uses these institutional implications for benchmarking the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the focal point in international biotechnology regulation, for effective GDO governance. The text concludes that institutional reforms are required for folding GDOs into international biodiversity policy.

Read More Here

You might like these publication categories

Recent publications

2022 Annual Report

Curious to know about the various parts of the Earth System Governance Project, and what has been achieved in 2022?…

Global Shifts: Business, Politics, and Deforestation in a Changing World Economy

What global shifts in markets and power mean for the politics and governance of sustainability. In recent years, major shifts…

Earth System Governance – Volume 16

We are delighted to present the sixteenth volume of Earth System Governance, the new open-access journal for all those interested…