Posted by anon on 05/30/2019.
Does the NP apply to anthropological resources that include human remains? This is especially relevant for archaeology, where we already have several frameworks in place for how to conduct our research and develop agreements on handling and studying human remains.
editor
21 Jul 2019No, the Nagoya Protocol does not cover human genetic resources. I did some internet searching and found nothing about whether Denisovan or Neanderthal remains fall under Nagoya, but it looks like they probably don’t (because they are part of modern humans). Nonetheless, the same ethical advancement is happening in the human genetics field, with repatriation, changes to access, demand for justice and more collaboration happening.
As an example, see this news in Nature from April 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01167-w