From sampling to sharing: legal rules for marine biodiversity

As part of the Synergy at the Extreme cluster, XTREAM joined NEXTMARINE, EXPLORA and Xtremolife in a webinar that took place yesterday, 28 September. The aim was to explore the shared legal and regulatory challenges that shape research and innovation in extreme and marine environments. Bringing together perspectives from all four Horizon Europe projects, the session addressed key issues such as the Nagoya Protocol and ABS obligations, digital sequence information, material transfer agreements, and the complex pathway from biodiversity sampling to patents and commercialization.

XTREAM was represented by our coordinator, NORCE Senior Researcher Antonio García-Moyano, who gave a geographic and environmental overview of XTREAM’s sample catalogue and showed where the project looks for life at the extremes. He noted that the catalogue includes both newly collected samples and material from existing scientific collections. García-Moyano also explained the different regulatory frameworks followed when accessing samples in locations such as Norway, Hungary, Chile, Spain and the high seas, highlighting how legal requirements can vary depending on the country or maritime context. This overview showed both the diversity of XTREAM’s sampling environments and the importance of navigating access rules responsibly from the start.