Tom Dedeurwaerdere

Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea: Sequencing a Myriad of Type Strains

This manuscript calls for an international effort to generate a comprehensive catalog from genome sequences of all the archaeal and bacterial type strains.

Global microbial commons: institutional challenges for the global exchange and distribution of microorganisms in the life sciences.

Exchanges of microorganisms between culture collections, laboratories and researchers worldwide have historically occurred in an informal way. These informal exchanges have facilitated research activities, and, as a consequence, our knowledge and exploitation of microbial resources have advanced rapidly. During the last decades of the twentieth century, the increasing economic importance of biotechnology and the introduction of new legislation concerning the use of and access to biological resources has subjected exchanges of genetic resources to greater controls. Their access and distribution are more strictly regulated and, therefore, exchanges are becoming more and more formalized. This paper analyzes one of the main drivers of the movement toward more formal worldwide exchange regimes, which is increasing global interdependency of access to genetic resources. Its main finding is that formalization of exchange practices as such is not necessarily leading to more restrictive licensing conditions. The goal of further formalization and harmonization of institutional frameworks should therefore be to provide the broadest possible access to essential research materials (within the constraints set by biosecurity and quality management requirements), while maximizing the reciprocity benefits of access and exchange (which motivate the exchange practices to start with).

Sustainability Science for Strong Sustainability.

Research institutions globally are eschewing traditional practice, converging around ideas of transdisciplinary sustainability science. New practice based on sciencesociety research partnerships, experiential learning in higher education and iterative and participatory modelling has become manifest. Sustainability Science for Strong Sustainability investigates the core concepts, tools and institutional strategies of this evolving field. Prominent research programs within heterodox economics, the environmental sciences and transition theory are explored through diverse case studies, revealing challenges and advancements for transdisciplinary research. The need for reform of modern science is facilitated by consideration of action points to overcome the institutional barriers of putting sustainability science into practice.

Social Learning as a Basis for Cooperative Small-Scale Forest Management

This paper analyses the governance characteristics of an innovative policy instrument for sustainable forest management in Flanders, namely a mechanism based on social learning and collaborative planning within joint forest management organizations. These organizations have been successful in involving non-industrial private forest owners in managing the transition towards sustainable management in small-scale forestry. Why was this innovative scheme successful? And what are its shortcomings and possible limitations? The hypothesis developed in this paper is that the success of the forest groups has been made possible by the explicit organization of a process of social learning, leading to change in the beliefs and the social norms of forest owners and users. Based on the analysis of this case of cooperative forestry, and on theoretical insights from governance theory, the contribution to fostering social learning from three distinct mechanisms is established, these being (1) the recourse to sustainability criteria and indicators as an open-ended learning device, (2) the experimentation with disruptive action strategies to put new beliefs into practice, and (3) the building of new forms of social cooperation around these new beliefs and practices.

Global Environmental Commons: Analytical and Political Challenges in Building Governance Mechanisms

Environmental challenges, and the potential solutions to address them, have a direct effect on living standards, the organization of economies, major infrastructures, and modes of urbanization. Since the publication of path-breaking contributions on the governance of environmental resources in the early 1990s, many political initiatives have been taken, numerous governance experiments have been conducted, and a large multi-disciplinary field of research has opened up. This interdisciplinary book takes stock of the knowledge that has accumulated to date, and addresses new challenges in the provision of environmental goods. It focuses on three essential dimensions with respect to governance. First, it addresses the issue of designing governance solutions through analyzing systems of rules, and levels of organization, in the governance and management of environmental issues. Second, it draws renewed attention to the negotiation processes among stakeholders playing a crucial role in reaching agreements over issues and solutions, and in choosing and implementing particular policy instruments. Finally, it shows that compliance depends on a combination of formal rules, enforced by recognized authorities, and informal obligations, such as social and individual norms. The evolution of the research frontiers on environmental governance shows that more legitimate and informed processes of collective decision, and more subtle and effective ways of managing compliance, can contribute to more effective policy. However, this book also illustrates that more democratic and effective governance should rely on more direct and pluralistic forms of involvement of citizens and stakeholders in the collective decision making processes.

The science commons in life science research: structure, function, and value of access to genetic diversity

Innovation in the life sciences depends on how much information is produced as well as how widely and easily it is shared. Policies governing the science commons – or alternative, more restricted informational spaces – determine how widely and quickly information is distributed. The purpose of this paper is to highlight why the science commons matters and to analyse its structure and function. The main lesson from our analysis is that both the characteristics of the physical resources (from genes to microbes, plants and animals) and the norms and beliefs of the different research communities – think of the Bermuda rules in the human genome case or the Belem declaration for bioprospecting – matter in the institutional choices made when organising the science commons. We also show that the science commons contributes to solving some of the collective action dilemmas that arise in the production of knowledge in Pasteurs Quadrant, when information is both scientifically important and practically applicable. We show the importance of two of these dilemmas for the life sciences, which we call respectively the diffusion–innovation dilemma (how readily innovation diffuses) and the exploration–exploitation dilemma (when application requires collective action).

Global scientific research commons under the Nagoya Protocol: Towards a collaborative economy model for the sharing of basic research assets

Highlights • Develops a collaborative economy model for sharing research materials for biodiversity research.• Presents a world-wide survey on collaborative practices in global research for sustainability.• Shows the limits of relying on internalized motivations only to build a collaborative economy.• Provides inputs for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol for non-commercial research.

Understanding patterns of use and scientific opportunities in the emerging global microbial commons

Rapidly growing global networking has induced and supported an increased interest in the life sciences in such general issues as health, climate change, food security and biodiversity. Therefore, the need to address and share research data and materials in a systematic way emerged almost simultaneously. This movement has been described as the so-called global research commons. Also in microbiology, where the sharing of microbiological materials is a key issue, microbial commons is attracting attention. Microbiology is currently facing great challenges with the advances of high throughput screening and next-generation whole genome sequencing. Furthermore, the exploration and use of microorganisms in agriculture and food production are increasing so as to safeguard global food and feed production. Further to several meetings on the subject, a special issue of Research in Microbiology is dedicated to Microbial Research Commons with a series of reviews elaborating its major pay-offs and needs in basic and applied microbiology. This paper gives an introduction to these articles covering a range of topics. These include the role of public culture collections and biological resource centers and legal aspects in the exchange of materials, microbial classification, an internet-based platform for data-sharing, applications in agriculture and food production, and challenges in metagenomics and extremophile research.

Self-Governance and International Regulation of the Global Microbial Commons: Introduction to the Special Issue on the Microbial Commons

A vast body of research has been developed addressing how the life-science research commons should be governed, in the context of a globalized intellectual property regime. Scholars revised the basic concepts of research on the commons to adapt it to the realm of knowledge and information. In particular, the collective action problems analyzed in the context of the natural resources were reformulated in a manner more appropriate to the study of the global sharing of biological materials (Hess and Ostrom 2006). The goal of this introduction to the special issue is to advance this research agenda by outlining the structure, the function and the role of two cases of new global genetic resource commons: the microbial commons and the plant genetic resources commons.

Handbook on the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity

In recent years, there has been a marked proliferation in the literature on economic approaches to ecosystem management, which has created a subsequent need for real understanding of the scope and the limits of the economic approaches to ecosystems and biodiversity. Within this Handbook, carefully commissioned original contributions from acknowledged experts in the field address the new concepts and their applications, identify knowledge gaps and provide authoritative recommendations. The Handbook offers a wealth of case studies and further: • identifies the conceptual underpinnings of economics of ecosystems and biodiversity • demonstrates new research methodologies and their applications • provides authoritative assessment of the recent results and findings in ecosystems’ services and biodiversity valuation and accounting • provides the reader with the state of the art of the research on the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity • provides spatial explicit tools for mapping ecosystem services values for land-use planning, including in the context of business and industry. This authoritative assessment will appeal to researchers and academics at both the advanced undergraduate and post-graduate levels of environmental economics and ecological economics. Policy makers in government, business and conservation sectors will find much to engage them as the work will prove essential for implementing effective response policies for the management of ecosystems and biodiversity.