Information Note on Digital Sequence Information (DSI) on Genetic Resources - Prepared by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for the Resumed eighteenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) (12-16 September 2022, Dakar, Senegal

In recent years, DNA sequencing technologies have become faster, cheaper and more accurate. Digital sequence information, or DSI, on genetic resources is used in a range of activities commercial and non-commercial such as taxonomy and monitoring for invasive species, pharmaceutical products development or improved crops breeding. However, questions persist about the role that DSI should play, if any and why, as it relates to access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing.