Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The convention has three main goals:
• the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
• the sustainable use of its components; and
• the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.
The convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the CBD and entered into force on 11 September 2003.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is another supplementary agreement to the CBD. It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. The Nagoya Protocol was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, and entered into force on 12 October 2014.
2010 was also the International Year of Biodiversity, and the Secretariat of the CBD was its focal point. Following a recommendation of CBD signatories at Nagoya, the UN declared 2011 to 2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity in December 2010. The convention's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011- 2020, created in 2010, include the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
The meetings of the parties to the convention are known as Conferences of the Parties (COP), with the first one (COP 1) held in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1994 and the most recent one (COP 14) held in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt.
Some of the many issues dealt with under the convention include:
• Measures the incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
• Regulated access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, including Prior Informed Consent of the party providing resources.
• Sharing, in a fair and equitable way, the results of research and development and the benefits arising from the commercial and other utilization of genetic resources with the Contracting Party providing such resources (governments and/or local communities that provided the traditional knowledge or biodiversity resources utilized).
• Access to and transfer of technology, including biotechnology, to the governments and/or local communities that provided traditional knowledge and/or biodiversity resources.
• Technical and scientific cooperation.
• Coordination of a global directory of taxonomic expertise (Global Taxonomy Initiative).
• Impact assessment.
• Education and public awareness.
• Provision of financial resources.
• National reporting on efforts to implement treaty commitments.