The Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee
for Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ICNP-2) is being
held in New Delhi from 2-6 July, 2012.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) is a new
international treaty adopted under the auspices of the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan on 29th October, 2010, after
six years of intense negotiations.
The CBD, one of the two agreements adopted during the Earth Summit held
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is the first comprehensive global agreement
which addresses all aspects relating to biodiversity. The Convention,
while reaffirming sovereign rights of nations over their biological
resources, establishes three main goals: (i) conservation of biological
diversity, (ii) sustainable use of its components and (iii) fair and
equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic
resources. A framework for implementing the third objective of the CBD,
which is generally known as access and benefit sharing (ABS) is
provided for in the Convention.
All living organisms: plants, animals and microbes, carry genetic
material that has potential uses for developing a wide range of products
and services for human benefits, such as in development of medicines,
drugs, cosmetics, enzymes, agricultural and horticultural products,
environmental techniques etc.
ABS refers to the way in which genetic resources may be accessed, and
the way in which benefits that result from their use are shared between
the people or countries using the resources (users) and the people or
countries that provide them (providers). Prior to the CBD, biological
resources were considered as common heritage of mankind. The CBD, while
reaffirming sovereign rights of States over their natural resources,
stipulates that the authority to determine access to genetic resources
rests with the national Governments and is subject to national
legislation. Further, access where granted, has to be on mutually
agreed terms (MAT) and subject to prior informed consent (PIC) of the
Party providing such resources. Each Party is also required to take
measures to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits on MAT arising
from the commercial and other utilisation of genetic resources with the
Party providing such resources. The CBD also recognises the importance
of traditional knowledge associated with biological diversity, and
stipulates that Parties subject to their national legislation, respect,
preserve and maintain this traditional knowledge, and promote their
wider application with the approval and involvement of holders of their
knowledge and encourage equitable sharing of benefit arising from use of
such knowledge.
As a megadiverse country rich in biodiversity and associated traditional
knowledge, and with a rapidly advancing biotechnology industry, India
has contributed effectively in ABS negotiations.
The objective of the Nagoya Protocol, namely, the fair and equitable
sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources,
is also one of the three objectives of the CBD. The Nagoya Protocol on
ABS establishes a clear framework on how researchers and companies can
obtain access to genetic resources and to traditional knowledge
associated with genetic resources, and how benefits arising from the use
of such material or knowledge will be shared. The Protocol also sets
out clear obligation for Parties to provide that users of genetic
resources within their jurisdiction respect the domestic regulatory
framework of Parties from where the resource has been accessed.
An Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol (ICNP) has been
established by Parties to the Convention as an interim governing body to
undertake the preparations necessary for the first Meeting of the
Parties, at which time it will cease to exist. The first meeting of
ICNP was held in June, 2011, in which India has been elected as one of
the two Bureau members to represent Asia Pacific region. This is
helping India to steer the discussions under ICNP. The second meeting
of ICNP is being hosted by India in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi from 2-6
July, 2012.
The Nagoya Protocol has been signed by 92 countries, and as on date
ratified by five countries. India signed the Protocol on 11th May,
2011, and is in the process of completing interministerial consultations
necessary for ratifying the Protocol. The Protocol will enter into
force 90 days after its 50th ratification. The first meeting of the
governing body of the Protocol (CoP-MoP) will be held concurrently with
the next meeting of governing body of the CBD (CoP).
The ICNP-2 will discuss issues such as: capacity building of developing
countries for implementation of the Protocol, awareness raising,
modalities of ABS clearing house, procedures and mechanism to promote
compliance with the Protocol, agenda for the first CoP-MoP, rules of
procedure for CoP-MoP, and global multilateral benefit sharing
mechanism.
The ICNP-2 meeting will be inaugurated by Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan,
Minister of Environment & Forests, on 2nd July, in Vigyan Bhawan.
The meeting will be attended by nearly 600 delegates from all countries
of the world representing Governments, academia, UN bodies, civil
society organizations, and indigenous and local communities.
The recommendations of the ICNP meetings will be considered by the
CoP-11 to the CBD being hosted by India in Hyderabad in October 2012.
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