On the 21st April Seychelles signed the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization. The Nagoya Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (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.
It was agreed by the 193 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at the Aichi-Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in October 2010. It was opened for signature in New York on 2 February 2011. To date, apart from Seychelles, Colombia, Yemen, Algeria, Brazil, Mexico, Rwanda, Ecuador, the Central African Republic and Mali have signed.
The Nagoya Protocol is very important because it will create greater legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources by establishing predictable conditions for access to genetic resources, and by helping to ensure benefit-sharing when genetic resources leave the country providing the genetic resources
By helping to ensure benefit-sharing, the Nagoya Protocol creates incentives to conserve and sustainably use genetic resources, and therefore enhances the contribution of biodiversity to development and human well-being.
In an exciting development which will give the Nagoya Protocol impetus on the ground, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has established a trust fund to support the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. The GEF has also approved a mid-sized project of two million United States dollars to support the early ratification and entry into force of the Protocol. The project secretariat is now fully operational.
The Nagoya Protocol will enter into force 90 days after the ratification by 50 Parties to the Convention.
Nirmal Shah, Nature Seychelles