Kuwait on Monday, June 5, 2017 ratified the “Nagoya Protocol on Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation”, an agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), bringing the total number of Parties to 100.
The Nagoya Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Protocol builds on the access and benefit-sharing provisions of the Convention by establishing predictable conditions for access to genetic resources and by helping to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of these resources. Adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, it entered into force on 12 October 2014.
Dr. Cristiana Pașca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said: “This is an important milestone for the Nagoya Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity. I congratulate the Government of Kuwait for taking the world to 100 ratifications of this important Protocol in the service of sustainable development.”
Kuwait also ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity on June 5, 2017 and became the 171st party.
Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources.
With 196 Parties so far, the Convention has near universal participation among countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the business community.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing are supplementary agreements to the Convention.
The Cartagena Protocol, which entered into force on September 11, 2003, seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. To date, 171 Parties have ratified the Cartagena Protocol.
The Nagoya Protocol aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. It entered into force on October 12, 2014 and to date has been ratified by 100 Parties.
