China, Finland and Zambia are the latest countries to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation, bringing the total number of ratifications to the treaty to 78.
All three countries ratified the Protocol during the past month. Zambia acceded on 20 May 2016, Finland accepted on 3 June 2016 and, most recently, China acceded on 8 June 2016. The treaty will enter into force for each of these countries 90 days after the date of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
Nigeria signed in 2012 but is yet to ratify the ground-breaking treaty.
As Parties to the Protocol, China, Finland and Zambia will be able to contribute to decision-making at the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico, from 4 to 17 December 2016.
“These recent ratifications demonstrate the truly global support for the Nagoya Protocol. I congratulate the governments of China, Finland and Zambia, and look forward to more ratifications in the coming months,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “The acts by these three governments move us closer to reaching our goal of 100 ratifications before the important meetings of the Convention and its Protocols to be held in Mexico later this year.”
The 2010 Nagoya Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the CBD, and contributes to global efforts on sustainable development. Building on the access and benefit-sharing provisions of the CBD, it provides a legal framework which can contribute to transparency and clarity for the various actors involved in access and benefit-sharing agreements.
In addition to China’s accession, Finland’s acceptance and Zambia’s accession, ratifications this year have come from the Czech Republic, Germany, Senegal, Togo and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Protocol entered into force in 2014.
