Please comment on proposed changes to the ABS Clearing-House

The following mockup presents a suggested approach to the design of a new common format on ABS Procedures. This common format is meant to guide applicants seeking access to genetic resources and/or traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources through the steps required for access to such resources and/or knowledge in a country. Many Governments may have a number of procedures in place on how to apply for access, each of which may differ depending on various factors, such as: the intended use (e.g. commercial or non- commercial, use inside or outside the country); the type of genetic resources (e.g. plants, animals, microorganisms); the area of access (e.g. ex situ, protected areas, public or private lands); the type of user (e.g. foreign or national users); and/or the type of provider of genetic resources and/or traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources (e.g. indigenous peoples and local communities). Therefore Governments should publish a separated record for each different procedure.

New common format for model contractual clauses

One of the issues raised during the IAC meeting was that in the current system, model contractual clauses can be submitted as either a reference record or as part of an ABS measure (a national record). This has resulted in some confusion and countries have been submitting model contractual clauses as reference records expecting that they would be displayed as part of their national records. Part of this confusion is due to the fact that currently it is not very obvious that national model contractual clauses are included as an attachments to an ABS measure.

In order to make the process of adding national model contractual clauses more obvious we suggest the inclusion of a new national record format specifically for model contractual clauses. National module contractual clauses records could be linked to ABS measures and vice-versa. To reduce confusion between the national and reference formats we also suggest to include a confirmation pop-up that will appear only for national users (PA or NAUs) when they try to add a reference record of type “model contractual clauses, codes of conduct, guidelines, best practices and/or standards”.

Keywords

Also included in this set of mockups is a suggestion to simplify how records are tagged with keywords by allowing users to either select keywords from a list or simply type them into the textbox. In addition to the term in the controlled vocabulary, users will also be able to add their own keywords or “custom keyword” to tag and describe their submissions. All custom keywords used will be tracked and reviewed periodically in order to improve the search. This functionality will replace the current functionality for adding keyword in all common formats.

What’s new (Articles)

The IAC recommended implementing a feature on the ABS Clearing-House to provide information about new developments.
The improved what’s new articles will be made up of short content that will be able to highlight news worthy information, such as:
- new features, functionality and published records;
- upcoming capacity-building events from the Secretariat and other partners;
- interesting insights from the analysis of the information;

The content of these articles normally can consist of images, text, embedded video/audio, and links. The latest articles will appear on the home page, just below the map, with a link to browser the full list of articles. Articles will be designed specifically to also be shared and promoted over social media (twitter, facebook, linked-in, medium). Articles can also be sent to users as “messages” through the requests & notifications functionality.

This set of mockups consist of: 1) the featured blog articles on the ABSCH homepage, 2) a search page listing all blog articles, 3) another mockup of the search page where articles can be larger depending on the importance of the article, and 4) the layout of the details of a blog post.

One of the underexploited strengths of the ABSCH as a central portal is its potential to provide analysis and insights over the entire breadth of information submitted. During the IAC the Committee recommended to increase the visibility of capacity-building resources on the ABSCH. The following mockups, using capacity-building as an example, will provide a new way highlight and explore the information on the ABSCH. 

These web pages, accessible through the search, are designed to increase the visibility and value of the information on the ABSCH by providing: 1) links and an overview of the specific category (national, reference, capacity-building) of information, 2) a specific dedicated search, and 3) analysis presented in interactive graphics (maps, graphs, lists) based on the control vocabularies, keyword analysis and web statistics available (such as number of views or downloads).

Suggested changes to the Checkpoint communique (CPC).

Since the last IAC certain changes have been suggested to improve the CPC common format in order to cover more cases and be more efficient in collecting and providing information.

These changes do not reduce current functionality but simply extent it in order to accommodate cases when checkpoints report on a product based on number of different genetic resources, each coming from several different countries and for which the user has obtained internationally recognized certificates of compliance (IRCCs) for some, but not for others. In the current CPC format, multiple IRCCs can be attached or information when the IRCC is not available, but not both.

These changes allow for information to be published in one CPC for multiple genetic resources in the both cases when the IRCC is available and when it is not. For genetic resources that do not have a IRCC available a new section containing relevant information on the genetic resource(s) can be added for each source country. This allows all the relevant information to be organized by country, make it more clear for the person entering the information as well as for the provider country to understand it when they receive the CPC.

These changes simply allow related information to be published in a single CPC, instead of multiple CPC forms (currently the case). This changes also reorganized the fields in the display and submission form to present the information more clearly and logically.
Please provide your comments on the suggested changes presented in the following mockups of the new submission and display form.