54

Genetic diversity is generally considered as a mining stock of information, genes or traits whose exploitation should contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. These last years, the debate on its legal status focused on intellectual property rights and the “patenting of life”, corresponding to a dominant mechanist representation of life. However, intellectual property rights, as well as other areas of law, have already demonstrated their ability to combine individual and collective rights and duties. The diversity of law should be further explored, as the management of genetic resources calls for legal imagination to address together their environmental, agricultural, industrial and social dimensions and to draw up balanced solutions to social and economical controversies. This broadening of perspective is of particular importance in light of recent scientific developments and of the resulting evolution of our vision of life.