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Is biodiversity treaty a hurdle to conservation research?
News:
- According to Scientists, the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), of which India is signatory too, is hindering biodiversity research and preventing international collaborations.
Important facts:
- This was revealed by scientists in a communication published on June 28 in the journal Science, an international team of scientists-including professors at India’s Kerala Agricultural University and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
- 172 scientists from 35 countries have expressed support to a critique of the CBD.
- The CBD is aimed at conserving biological diversity, sustainably using biological components and fair and equitable sharing of benefits that may arise out of the utilization of genetic resources.
- The latter was delineated in the Nagoya Protocol, which came into effect in 2014.
- Seed Treaty:
- International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture or the “Seed Treaty”, could be used as a model of exchange of biological materials for non-commercial research.
- Seed treaty ensures worldwide public accessibility of genetic resources of essential food and fodder.
- Another solution may be to add an explicit treaty or annex in the CBD to promote and facilitate biodiversity research, conservation and international collaborations.
- Under government-approved international collaborative projects, material can be exchanged freely.
- There are also “facilitative processes” to send specimens for taxonomic identification to other countries.
- India is one of the 196 countries that has committed to the CBD and ratified it in February 1994.
CBD:
- The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) , also known as Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
- The Convention has three main goals including:
a. The conservation of biological diversity
b. Sustainable use of its components
c. The fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
- The Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1991 and entered into force on 29 December 1993.
- At the 2010, 10th Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Nagoya, Japan, the Nagoya Protocol was adopted